Knight joins an exclusive club

Middlesex 72 for 5 trail Warwickshire 608 for 7 dec (Knight 303*, Bell 129, Hogg 71) by 536 runs
Scorecard

What a difference a change of innings and a few clouds can make. After Warwickshire had rattled up a daunting 608 for 7 midway through the second afternoon at Lord's, thanks largely to a triple-century from Nick Knight, they reduced Middlesex to 72 for 5 by an early close.

The pitch seemed as spiteful to Middlesex's batsmen as it had benign to Warwickshire's. The only discernible difference was that sunshine had given way to increasingly low cloud by the time they batted, but that did not entirely excuse an abject performance. Neil Carter's opening spell reduced Middlesex to 22 for 3 by tea, with Owais Shah's already wretched match compounded by a first-ball duck when he inside-edged into his middle stump.

Before the carnage, Knight had finished with an unbeaten 303, the second time in successive matches at Lord's that a Warwickshire batsman has made a triple ton and only the fifth man to do so at Lord's (see list below). The last - Mark Wagh, who hit 315 in 2001 - was the only man to fall yesterday, and how he missed out. On that occasion, when Warwickshire also passed 600, Middlesex batted out a draw. After their abject display this evening, they will be extremely hard pressed to do so again.

Knight made well-paced progress, as he had done throughout the first day, accumulating quietly and efficiently rather than spectacularly. In all, 119 of his runs were singles and his only acceleration came against the new ball on the first morning and when the declaration - and his own landmark - were in sight this afternoon.

Middlesex's bowlers showed more purpose than they did on Wednesday, although sadly Shah's captaincy was again unimpressive. If Andrew Strauss is absent for long periods on England duty, then Middlesex have to hope that Shah improves, and does so pretty quickly, or much of their progress this summer could be squandered.

The persevering Nantie Hayward, who removed Ian Bell for 129, Jonathan Trott (3) and Jim Troughton for a duck in a hostile opening spell, got due reward for his efforts. Bell, reprieved several times yesterday, added only 10 to his overnight score.

Warwickshire's collapse continued when Dougie Brown fell for 19 to the South African one-two, Hayward holding a top-edged hook off Lance Klusener, and they had then lost four wickets for 36. They had past 400 and were still in the driving seat, but Middlesex had dragged themselves back into the match.

Brad Hogg's arrival upped the tempo and snuffed out any Middlesex revovery. With Knight he added 150 in 100 minutes, Hogg hammering 71 from 75 balls. Jamie Dalrymple and Paul Weekes, Middlesex's far-from-frontline spin twins, suffered the most, and only the declaration prevented Dalrymple from joining Weekes in conceding three figures. Why Chris Peploe, Middlesex's young left-armer, warranted only ten overs, none of them yesterday, remains a mystery. As it was, Knight brought up his 300 with his 32nd four, and called off the torture.

Carter's opening burst meant that Middlesex were there for the taking, and shortly after tea when Dewald Pretorius had Ben Hutton caught by Bell at third slip for 17, it was 28 for 4. As the gloom descended over Lord's, both meteorologically and among the few home faithful who remained, Weekes (who finished unbeaten with 32) and Dalrymple stopped the rot somewhat.

But as the umpires prepared to offer the light, Brown struck the final blow of the day when Dalrymple went walkabout and was stumped by an underarm throw from Tony Frost.