Geddes and Sharma put Middlesex in control at Leics
Ben Geddes scored his first century for Middlesex and Naavya Sharma took four wickets to put Division Two leaders Leicestershire under pressure on day two of their County Championship match at the Uptonsteel County Ground.Badly dropped on 11 on the first evening, Geddes, 23, was eventually out for a career-best 137 as the visitors amassed a challenging total of 534 after being asked to bat first.Then England Under-19 right-arm quick Sharma - playing in only his third first-class match at 19-years-old - plunged them into disarray with four wickets in 11 balls as the promotion favourites found themselves in unfamiliar territory, despite a half-century from opener Rishi Patel.Ben Green, the on-loan Somerset all-rounder who had been guilty of the error from which Geddes profited so handsomely, had been the best of a depleted home attack with 3-54 from 28 overs, seamer Roman Walker finishing with a career-best 3-78.Geddes, who moved to Middlesex from Surrey over the winter, supplemented Sam Robson's 133 on day one as next-to-bottom Middlesex posted their biggest total of the summer before Sharma (4-24) showed the way to bowl with the much-criticised Kookaburra ball, finding movement that had eluded others.Tom Helm chipped in with two of his own as Leicestershire plunged from 39-1 to 99-8, as the hosts finished the day on 103-8.Earlier, Middlesex added a further 102 before lunch to their 336-five overnight for the loss only of nightwatchman Sharma.Leicestershire could not make more inroads until the eighth over after lunch when Cracknell (38) nicked Green to first slip, the pair having added 92 for the seventh wicket.Moments earlier, Geddes had pulled Sam Wood for his ninth four to complete his hundred from 167 balls.Zafar Gohar was caught off bat and pad, before Geddes, having overtaken his previous best (124 for Surrey v Kent in 2022), was bowled by Patel, whose off-spin had not been seen in competitive professional cricket before last week, but now has two wickets to his name.Noah Cornwell, the 20-year-old left-arm seamer, was leg before without scoring but Middlesex would have been delighted with their work, even though it was worth only three bonus points.They were happier still to have Leicestershire 39-2 inside nine overs in reply.Sol Budinger perished for 10 from eight balls, leg before to Cornwell. Trevaskis, promoted to number three in the absence of the injured Rehan Ahmed, fell for three, edging Ryan Higgins to first slip.Patel and Lewis Hill battled to rebuild, but after the third-wicket pair had added a painstaking 43 in 16 overs, the Middlesex tactic of bowling short to Hill paid off as the former Leicestershire captain was caught behind off the glove, pulling.What looked initially like a well-worked breakthrough on a pitch that had hardly been helpful until then turned out to be the start of a devastating spell by Sharma that yielded four wickets in 11 balls without a run conceded.The right-arm quick followed the dismissal of Hill by nipping one away to have Australian Test batter Peter Handscomb nicking behind, before taking two in three balls as Green fended to short leg and Ben Cox was beaten past the inside edge to be leg before, leaving Leicestershire in deep trouble at 88-6.That became 99-8 as Helm bowled Patel and had Logan van Beek caught behind from consecutive deliveries before Chris Wright survived the hat-trick ball.ECB Reporters' Network supported by Rothesay
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Daily Mail
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The Guardian
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The Independent
30 minutes ago
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