Middlesex v Derbyshire day 2

Middlesex 423 (Holden 119 not)

Derbyshire 222-6 (Critchley 87 not, Dal 19 not)

Derbyshire trail by 201 runs

A season highest score of 87 not out from Matt Critchley gave Derbyshire a chance of avoiding the follow on at Lord's yesterday, after a top order collapse suggested we might be doing so well before the end of day 2.

It has been a disappointing summer for Critchley who, aside from a stellar performance at Chesterfield hasn't really delivered this year. No one doubts the talent that lies within, but he will hope to kick on next year under Dave Houghton, as a player of such talent should be scoring more runs than he has managed in 2018.

The same could be said about a few others, of course, and it is quite damning that with a potential three innings to go for everyone, the closest run tally to Wayne Madsen's 977 is over three hundred runs back in his slipstream. Wayne passed eleven thousand first-class runs yesterday and remains the Derbyshire wicket most prized by the opposition.

I am sure that Luis Reece would have matched Madsen this year and it was nice to see him back in the middle yesterday. A big innings would have been nice, but also a fairy tale after such a lay off, even though his leg before decision was deemed unlucky. At 62-4, when Harvey Hosein went second ball, we were looking down a barrel of considerable size.

Critchley and Billy Godleman began the fightback before the skipper's departure for a battling 28 in 150 minutes of batting. Gary Wilson also dug in and helped to add a further sixty runs, before an ugly swipe across the line saw him dismissed for 31. Like Critchley, a key component of the Derbyshire 'engine room' has to be disappointed with a summer in which his highest first-class score is just 66.

Anuj Dal kept the entertaining Critchley company until the close of play, surviving an appealed slip catch en route when the ball was deemed to have bounced. We will need more runs from both of them today to avoid the follow on, though Middlesex may choose not enforce it.

Plenty still to play for in this match, then, but the home side are well on top after two days.