It was a day for the bowlers on Day 1 of Durham’s match against Middlesex at Lords.
15 wickets fell on the first day with the match slightly in Middlesex’s favour going into day two.
Middlesex won the toss and sent Durham in to bat on a humid morning at Lords after one of the hottest days of the summer yesterday with a morning thunderstorm just hours before play.
Just like the earlier weather, Durham had a grim start to the morning on a pitch with a bit of movement, with the top three to falling early after all three edged behind to Middlesex keeper Simpson.
The first to go was Mark Stoneman (2) who was dismissed on just the second ball of the day giving Murtagh the first wicket.
Just three overs later number three Scott Borthwick also found the hands of the keeper to depart for 4 with Colymore this time the wicket taker and then just an over later opener Jennings gave Murtagh his second wicket to be dismissed for 3 and left Durham 13-3.
Will Smith and Ben Stokes then tried to steady for Durham and added 25 until Stokes edged to third slip in the 16th over to give Steve Finn his first as Stokes made 21 before going back to the change rooms.
Smith continued at the crease with skipper Paul Collingwood and the pair were looking steady until Smith went just 2 balls before lunch for 24, Rayner taking the catch and Berg with his first wicket.
Experienced duo Collingwood and Mustard then got the scoreboard ticking over and were looking good at the crease as the sun came through the clouds for the afternoon session. However just half an hour after lunch Mustard became the fourth Durham batsman to knick through to the wicketkeeper giving Berg his second and leavingDurham in trouble at 93-6.
Collingwood too looked good at the crease and made his way to 30 before he was the victim of a Steve Finn caught and bowled after the Durham skipper got a leading edge back to the bowler. It wasn’t long after when Richardson became the 5th Durham batsmen to be dismissed caught behind leaving Durham 116-8.
Thorp and Onions added 19 before Onions fell victim to fellow England squad contender Steve Finn who trapped him lbw for 4 to give Finn his 3rd wicket and Durham 135-9.
Just 8 more runs were added for the final partnership as Rushworth became Finn’s 4th victim as the number 11 chipped to Murtagh to leave Durham all out for 143.
The Middlesex reply began very similar to Durham’s innings.
Graham Onions struck in the 5th over as Denly found Borthwick at second slip and an over later Chris Rushworth took his first removing Robson’s stumps to bowl him out for 1.
Three overs later Onions claimed his second wicket when Voges hit to Stokes leaving the home side 15-3.
Morgan and Dexter then looked to recover the innings and they put on 31 before Morgan was trapped in front of the stumps by Stokes and the scoreboard read 46-4.
Middlesex then steadied through Simpson and Dexter who put on 42 runs before Scott Borthwick came into the attack and took the wicket of Simpson with Stoneman taking the catch and Simpson departing for 20 leaving Middlesex 88-5.
A 38-run partnership late in the day between Dexter and Berg then gave Middlesex a slight edge going into the second day as they finished 126-5, trailing Durham’s first innings by just 17 behind.