HAMEED IN THE RUNS AS NOTTS TAKE CHARGE AT HEADQUARTERS

HASEEB Hameed displayed his liking for Lord’s once again as he struck his first century of the season to put Nottinghamshire in charge of their County Championship game against Middlesex. Hameed, discarded by England after a barren Ashes series over the 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 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.

Tim 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 lefthander took advantage of his escape, twice steering Murtagh to the rope later in the same over as runs started to flow. 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 on to his stumps.

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, but perished having a nibble at Andersson’s outswinger.