Sedate Hammond hundred ends Middlesex's winning streak
7 September 2018
A second century of the summer by Miles Hammond stopped Middlesex having a realistic target to chase on the final day at the Brightside Ground as a hard fought game ended in a draw.
At lunch, an exciting finish still looked possible with Gloucestershire 221 ahead, but skipper Chris Dent didn't feel the balance of the declaration equation was right until more than an hour later and with the lead - with the help of a career best 123* from Miles Hammond - having ticked past 300.
When he called Hammond and David Payne in with Gloucestershire 251-8 in their second innings, it left Middlesex 40 overs to chase 306 to win, but after a frenetic start in which four wickets fell in the first seven overs Middlesex called off their pursuit and were 111-5 when both teams accepted the draw with nine overs of the final hour remaining.
Watch the post match reaction of Miles Hammond here :
RESULT REACTION: Centurion Miles Hammond reflects on the draw with @Middlesex_CCC in @CountyChamp at the Brightside Ground pic.twitter.com/pGZEuD5lEP
— Gloucestershire CCC (@Gloscricket) September 7, 2018
Gloucestershire began the final day 141 runs ahead with four wickets down, and their hopes of dictating how the day unfolded were boosted by the absence of both James Harris and Tim Murtagh from the Middlesex team.
Murtagh finally took the field more than 40 minutes late because of tooth ache which necessitated a visit to the dentist, and didn't bowl until 25 minutes before lunch. When he dismissed Jack Taylor for a season's best Championship score of 43 just before the interval, Taylor had added 66 on the day with Miles Hammond, who was making relentless progress towards a carefully constructed hundred.
Deprived of two front line bowlers, Middlesex captain Dawid Malan was twirling away with his leg spin earlier than he might have expected, especially with the need to contain as well as take wickets. Hammond's fifty came up in 134 balls with four fours, and he went on to take 23 singles in a morning session where the quicker bowlers, James Fuller and Ethan Bamber, were tidy but offered little threat. The fact that Murtagh ended up bowling with fielders at short cover and short extra cover emphasised the placid nature of the pitch.
As the Gloucestershire score inched upwards, the balance of power slowly shifted with it, Hammond playing a switch hit for four off Malan and Jack Taylor striking a straight six down the ground towards the apartments before Murtagh induced an edge to 'keeper Eskinazi a quarter of an hour before lunch.
Eight overs remained until the second new ball when play resumed, and Hammond and Ryan Higgins pushed the lead towards 250 before a horrible mix up saw Higgins run out for 23. Having also been involved in Chris Dent's run out earlier in the innings, Hammond will have been relieved to reach his second Championship hundred, this one containing ten fours and made in more methodical style than his 103 against Sussex at Cheltenham.
At that stage the Middlesex target would have been 269, but it wasn't until another 37 runs had been added and 12 overs had elapsed that Chris Dent felt comfortable to call a halt. Hammond's 123 not out was a career best, and had occupied more than six hours of the match.
With Sussex and Kent having already won their games in this round, Middlesex had little option but to chase their victory target of 306 in 40 overs hard from ball one. Their batting order saw all their aggressive players pushed towards the top, and a crazy start ensued with the loss of three quick wickets.
A direct hit by James Bracey ran out Paul Stirling in the first over, Dawid Malan was well caught on the run by Jack Taylor at mid wicket off David Payne and Nick Gubbins was trapped lbw by Craig Miles. When Eoin Morgan clipped Payne to Ben Charlesworth in the first over after tea they were 29-4, so it was just as well that they had the insurance policy of specialist batsmen down the order in Sam Robson and Steven Eskinazi.
Robson and James Fuller - who switched from aggressor to defender when Morgan was out - stayed together for 13 overs until Fuller was lbw to Higgins, but with all hope of victory long gone, Eskinazi kept him company for the remainder of the day until the teams shook hands with nine overs left.
Gloucestershire take 9 points from the match, and head to Glamorgan on Monday in seventh place in the table with three matches remaining.
