Haseeb Lord’s it up with fine ton for Notts
HASEEB Hameed displayed his liking for Lord’s again as he struck his first century of the season to put Nottinghamshire in charge of their LV= Insurance County Championship Division Two game against Middlesex.
Hameed, discarded by England after a barren Ashes series last winter, reminded the new regime of his considerable talent with a knock of 112 as the visitors posted 329-5 after being put in.
It was the 25-year-old’s first domestic appearance at Lord’s since his 117 underpinned a seven-wicket win for Lancashire three years ago and he looked in good touch, sharing a century stand with Notts captain Steven Mullaney.
The skipper was 92 not out at stumps, with Middlesex’s bowlers persevering but unable to make major inroads despite two wickets apiece for Ethan Bamber and Martin Andersson.
Despite the loss of overseas star Shaheen Afridi – returning to Pakistan ahead of next month’s whiteball series against West Indies – Middlesex bolstered their attack by bringing in Tim Murtagh, now recovered from a hamstring injury.
Murtagh marked his comeback with a wicket in the first over of the day, finding the edge of Ben Slater’s bat – and he might also have added the scalp of Ben Duckett, driving outside off stump.
However, Peter Handscomb could not hold the chance at first slip and the left-hander took advantage of his escape, twice steering Murtagh to the rope later in the same over as runs started to flow.
Toby Roland-jones was the only bowler to establish a notable degree of control, beating the bat several times and conceding only six runs in his opening six-over burst from the Pavilion End.
Duckett and Hameed were quick to punish anything too full, making good use of the short boundary as they shared a stand of 99, but Nottinghamshire were pegged back by Bamber’s post-lunch spell.
The seamer moved one away from Duckett (43) to give John Simpson his second catch before Joe Clarke dragged an inswinger onto his stumps in Bamber’s next over without scoring.
The visitors slumped to 150-4 when Andersson had Lyndon James (21) caught behind but Mullaney joined forces with Hameed and immediately took charge of their partnership of 117.
Hameed brought up his hundred from the first delivery of the evening session, clipping Murtagh off his pads for four – yet the opener then seemed to retreat into his shell and eventually perished having a nibble at Andersson’s outswinger.
But Mullaney, who pulled Andersson over the fence to reach his halfcentury, and Tom Moores, with an undefeated 35, had guided Nottinghamshire into a strong position when bad light ended play.