Middlesex beat Derbyshire, pushing the promotion race to the final round

An innings and 66 runs was the margin of defeat Derbyshire suffered over three days at the Incora County Ground, but Middlesex completed their sixth victory of the Division Two season to mathematically maintain their challenge for promotion to the Vitality County Championship.

With captain Toby Roland-Jones extending his remarkable run of form with yet another five-wicket haul, Derbyshire, who had started the day at 74 for 3, were bowled out for 119 in the final 87 minutes of the single session.

Roland-Jones had a match total of 10 for 72 after finishing with 5 for 38. To date this season, the 36-year-old seamer has claimed five wickets or more in six of his past nine innings. Two wickets apiece went to Ethan Bamber and leg spinner Luke Hollman, while left-arm seamer Noah Cornwell, 20, completed their destruction with his first-class wicket.

The outcome sends the race for promotion to the championship round, although Middlesex’s chances are stacked against them after their loss to Gloucestershire at Lord’s last week. Yorkshire, in second position, now leads this week’s games by fifteen points as a result of the loss.

following a dismal season under head coach Mickey Arthur, Derbyshire is all but guaranteed to finish bottom of Division Two for the first time since 2016.

This is following their seventh defeat of the year. For the sixteenth time in their Championship history, Derbyshire will come in last, well ahead of their closest rivals, Somerset.

Derbyshire lost their final eight wickets for 45 runs on a lively pitch that made life difficult for hitters against both the quicker bowlers and the spinners. With a meagre 32 points, veteran Wayne Madsen led all scorers, followed by stand-in Mitch Wagstaff, who scored 27.

When Wagstaff was removed in the final over of the second day, Middlesex got a breakthrough that allowed them to take four more wickets in the first forty-five minutes, while Derbyshire withdrew rather weakly in overcast conditions that necessitated the use of floodlights from the outset. The first to depart was Madsen, who had assisted Wagstaff in scoring 58 runs for the third wicket by edging past Bamber.

There wasn’t much that could be done to help the Derbyshire veteran who was dismissed by a beautiful delivery, as David Lloyd pulled straight to midwicket, giving the Warwickshire-bound Bamber a second wicket. Before Lloyd left, Aneurin Donald dropped the ball at backward point. He only scored one more run before Roland-Jones made a low return catch, and Zak Chappell edged his first ball to the gully.

The Middlesex captain reached 51 wickets for the season with those two wickets in two balls. This is the 36-year-old seamer’s second half-century in three seasons, and it’s clear why the county has extended his contract while allowing other senior players to leave.

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Roland-Jones’ second five-for of the match came when he got Harry Moore behind off an inside edge. Jack Morley then edged low to slip from Hollman, and Cornwell bowled Alex Thomson with the fourth ball of his single over.