A late Kent wicket provided a much-needed boost as Middlesex batted into a commanding position in their Rothesay County Championship match at Canterbury on Saturday.
Stephen Eskinazi gave them a platform with 57 before Ben Geddes – on loan with Kent in 2023 – cashed in after being dropped twice to make 73 not out.
Earlier, Kent were all out for 218, which handed the visitors a four-run first-innings lead. Grant Stewart made 56 and Harry Finch 52, but their 101-run partnership was broken in the second over of the morning session.
Blake Cullen enjoyed Middlesex’s best figures with 4-60 while Ryan Higgins claimed 3-37.
Stewart said: “Hopefully, we can get the last four wickets early tomorrow, get batting and chase down their target.”
The hosts were still 50 runs in arrears at the start of day two but, after passing 50 in the first over, Stewart swished Higgins to Zafar at midwicket, ending a partnership of 101.
On his stand with Finch, Stewart said: “Finchy’s a good man.
“We bat a bit together because we bat pretty close together in the order.
“We put on a solid partnership, kept things ticking over and tried to put pressure on their bowlers.
“(We tried to) capitalise on any bad balls and it seemed to work out. It got us close to their score.”
Finch punched Toby Roland-Jones (1-57) through the covers to bring up his 50, but Higgins pinned him lbw in the next over.
Jas Singh and Kashif Ali nearly got Kent to parity – until an eventful 83rd over. Kashif was on 16 when he hooked Cullen, but Brookes reacted a split second too slowly and the chance went down.
However, he was run out off the very next delivery when Singh drove Cullen through the covers and Zafar Gohar’s throw allowed Cullen to break the bails with Kashif a centimetre from making his ground. Cullen then bowled Singh’s middle stump to give Middlesex a slender advantage.
Nathan Fernandes’ run of single-figure scores continued when Nathan Gilchrist (2-52) had him lbw for one in the fourth over.
Max Holden, lucky to get off the mark with a tail-ender’s swipe at Stewart, nicked Gilchrist to red-ball captain Daniel Bell-Drummond at third slip for five in the next over.
But Eskinazi and Leus du Plooy steered them to 33-2 at lunch and looked well set for an hour after the resumption until the latter edged Stewart (1-46) to Jack Leaning (1-13) for 26, breaking a 56-run partnership.
Joey Evison (1-21) struck with his second ball, bowling Higgins’ off-stump for 15 and Geddes nearly went in the same over but Tawanda Muyeye couldn’t cling on at first slip.
Eskinazi clipped Evison for a single to reach 50 but was lbw to Singh in the 42nd over and there was further encouragement for Kent members, during an otherwise interminable afternoon session, when Michael Cohen came on as a substitute fielder after missing the entire 2024 season with a back injury.
Middlesex, however, were 147-5 when tea was finally taken at 4.23pm and the game began to drift away, with Gilchrist unable to take a return catch off Geddes. He subsequently straight-drove Evison for four to reach his 50.
Jack Davies joined him in making batting look easy on a track that had looked treacherous on day one until Leaning got him for 27, caught by Bell-Drummond at first slip.
Cullen came in for three deliveries before the players came off for bad light.
