Middlesex v Derbyshire day 2

Middlesex 401 (Thomson 4-103, Conners 3-104)

Derbyshire 177-4 (Masood 91, Madsen 34)

Derbyshire trail by 224 runs

A delightful innings of 91 by Shan Masood lit up the day at Lord's, even if the Pakistan batman rather gave it away when a century was there for the taking.

Derbyshire did well in the morning to bowl out the home side for 401. Alex Thomson ended up with four wickets and Sam Conners bowled much better than yesterday, but the ball was doing a little bit more too, worrying from a Derbyshire perspective. 

Masood looked good from the start, playing through the V and delightfully when the line strayed to his pads. At the other end I thought our batsmen, while going for crease occupation, erred too much on the side of defence, allowing close fields to remain set. Helm bowled well, while Bamber seemed to be playing to different rules to everyone else, appealing whenever pads were hit, regardless of where the ball pitched. Murtagh remains a wily campaigner and Derbyshire were made to work.

Neither Godleman nor Guest ever suggested permanence and Madsen had early struggles, but Masood cut loose after reaching his fifty and it was a surprise when a rush of blood saw him charge the more innocuous-looking De Caires to be stumped for an excellent 91.

He looked on a different level to the rest and it will be a pleasure to watch him this year. 

Madsen went before the close, caught leg before on his crease, but du Plooy and Reece saw it to the close.

A big first session tomorrow, then. First we need to get past the follow on target, then hopefully bat much longer. At least that early occupation made the later task easier against a softer ball. With good batsmen at the crease and to come, we can certainly get past 300 here.