County cricket: Middlesex and Hampshire set pace in One-Day Cup

Middlesex went three for three last week to leap to the top of Group A in the Royal London Cup. The best win of the hat-trick was their last-over thriller against Somerset at Taunton.

After Matt Renshaw and the precocious James Rew had both scored centuries for the home side, Middlesex knew they needed their big guns to fire. When in-form captain Steve Eskinazi joined fellow opener Mark Stoneman back in the hutch during the fourth over, much rested on South African Test batter Pieter Malan, who has contributed throughout the campaign. He made a century and there were twin 70s from Sam Robson and Max Holden, who was out with 26 needed from 25 balls, but with only three wickets in hand.

This is the delight of 50-over cricket – like a novel or box set, the weight of its climax is enhanced by the investment of time taken to reach it. Enter Martin Andersson – a villain in last week’s column, a hero in this one. The all-rounder scored 20 of the runs required, leaving just the winningsingle for the last pair to get. Max Harris obliged and the crowd went home disappointed, but royally entertained.

Leicestershire won both of their matches to go level on points with Middlesex, with the two games following a similar pattern. Batting first at Grace Road, the home side set a target (a gettable 270 for Somerset, a tougher 339 for Warwickshire) and then bowled and fielded as a unit to cruise home comfortably.

Cricket has long talked of a batting order but, in one-day cricket with its emphasis on giving a captain options, should we also talk about a bowling order too? In the first win, Beuran Hendricks, Chris Wright, Wiaan Mulder, Roman Walker and Tom Scriven each took a wicket at under a run a ball; in the second win, the same thing