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Woeful Middlesex

Nottinghamshire (198-5) bt Middlesex (197-8) by 5 wkts

If this was a dress rehearsal for Wednesday's third-round match in the NatWest Trophy then Middlesex have little hope of reaching the last 16 after a woeful display against a side with only one previous victory in the league.

Middlesex threw wickets away after choosing to bat first on the pitch used for the previous championship match and Mark Ramprakash and Justin Langer played needless shots when well set, failing to support Mike Roseberry's second half century in the competition from 62 balls with seven boundaries before he fell to Richard Stemp.

Despite a disappointing total Middlesex lost it in the field, ill-directed bowling conceding 15 wides, and only Angus Fraser could be exempted from criticism.

Those who see Ramprakash as a candidate for the England captaincy would have been mesmerised by the alterations to the field after just about every ball and mystified as to why his players needed a drink at the fall of every wicket.

The match was a significant step in the rehabilitation of Chris Tolley, the former Worcester left-armer, who has overcome two serious operations on his shoulder and produced his county's best effort with the ball in a thoughtful spell with subtle variations of pace.

Then, after Jason Gallian perished to an ill-judged hook and Chris Read fell leg before in the same over, he played a confident anchor role to allow Graeme Archer to reach his half century and dominate some poor bowling as Middlesex completed a pretty dismal day.