Luis Reece hits ton as Derbyshire fight back against Middlesex – BBC Sport

Vitality County Championship Division Two, Lord’s (day two)

Middlesex: 433: Higgins 163, Du Plooy 57, Roland-Jones 52; Chappell 3-69, Dupavillon 3-104

Derbyshire 308-4: Reece 123*, Madsen 49, Donald 43*

Derbyshire (5 pts) trail Middlesex (5 pts) by 125 runs

Derbyshire opener Luis Reece posted a maiden Lord’s hundred to lead his side’s steady response with the bat in their County Championship game Division Two against Middlesex.

The 33-year-old left-hander shook off a patchy start in sharing a third-wicket stand of 111 with Wayne Madsen as he brought up his century from 176 balls to reach stumps unbeaten on 123.

The visitors closed at 308-4, trailing by 125 after Middlesex had totalled 433 in their first innings, with overnight centurion Ryan Higgins last out for 163.

Higgins, whose stand of 71 with Ethan Bamber set a county record for the last wicket in games against Derbyshire, has now overtaken Northamptonshire’s Emilio Gay to become Division Two’s leading run-scorer this season.

Handily-placed on 342-7 overnight, Middlesex lost captain Toby Roland-Jones for 52 in the third over.

With Henry Brookes soon following it looked as though a fourth batting point might elude the home side – but Higgins and Bamber determined otherwise.

Bamber compiled an unbeaten 21 and Higgins raised the tempo, lifting Sam Conners for three leg-side sixes.

A rare untidy shot by Higgins, top-edging Conners over slip for four, took him beyond 150 and it was Reece who eventually wrapped up the innings as Madsen gathered Higgins’ slog-sweep in front of the rope.

In response, David Lloyd (21) was caught at point off Bamber before Brooke Guest fell for 18. But Reece formed a solid alliance with Madsen, who made 49 as he surpassed 14,000 first-class runs in Derbyshire colours.

Although leg-spinner Luke Hollman caused Madsen problems, he looked poised to emulate Reece’s half-century until Brookes broke the partnership in the first over after tea.

His dismissal did little to slow Derbyshire’s scoring rate as Reece and Matt Lamb began to accelerate.

Lamb targeted the short boundary in a breezy 30 before Jack Davies, standing up to the stumps, took a sharp catch off Higgins.

Aneurin Donald then progressed to 43 not out as Derbyshire pocketed their second batting bonus point prior to stumps.

Report supplied by the ECB Reporters’ Network