Middlesex bowled Lancashire out for 201 and took a 163-run lead after day one of the County Championship Division Two match.
Middlesex took the lead in their Division Two match against Lancashire, thanks to a strong bowling performance. James Anderson led the charge, taking two wickets to leave Lancashire struggling. The visitors were bowled out for 201, with Keaton Jennings top scoring with 67. Anderson's seamers proved too much for the Lancashire batsmen, setting up a strong position for Middlesex.
Lancashire's innings was marked by regular wickets, with Jennings and Josh Bohannon adding 56 for the second wicket, the highest stand of the innings. However, wickets fell regularly, with Seb Morgan, Toby Roland-Jones, and Ryan Higgins each claiming three wickets for Middlesex. Higgins struck first ball in his second spell to dismiss Bohannon for 20, while Morgan produced a fine delivery to remove Jennings for 67.
The Lancashire middle order collapsed after lunch, with Marcus Harris being caught for five by Naavya Sharma off a ball outside off-stump. Only four more runs were added before the interval, and Lancashire struggled to rebuild. Matty Hurst's frantic seven ended in a simple catch to fourth slip off Sharma, as the visitors' tail failed to wag.
Tom Hartley was caught behind for three to give Higgins his third wicket, and Tom Bailey fell for 11.
James Anderson, captain of Middlesex, struck early in the reply, dismissing both openers Sam Robson and Max Holden. Robson was caught by Michael Jones for six, and Holden was clean bowled by Anderson's delivery to leave Middlesex at 24-2.
Du Plooy hit a couple of boundaries against Anderson, but bad light ended play after nine overs. The match saw a total of 17 overs lost due to bad light, which also brought an early tea.
Middlesex finished day one with a strong position at 38-2, trailing Lancashire by 163 runs. Anderson finished with figures of 2-11 after dismissing both openers, setting up a promising start for the visitors.
With a long way to go in the match, Middlesex will look to build on their strong start and take control of the game, while Lancashire will aim to fight back and level the scores.