Specsavers County Championship Division Two, Emirates Old Trafford (day four):
Lancashire 259: Livingstone 84* & 347: Jennings 97, Livingstone 68, Croft 40; Cummins 4-50
Middlesex 337: Simpson 167*; Bailey 5-78, Parkinson 3-49 & 165: Andersson 83*, Harris 38; Bailey 5-41
Lancashire (21 pts) beat Middlesex (6 pts) by 104 runs
Promoted Lancashire completed their eighth win in 13 County Championship games in 2019 - and their fifth out of five at Old Trafford - as they finally saw off Middlesex by 104 runs.
Steven Croft (40) helped add 58 runs to the hosts' overnight score of 289-8 as they were bowled out for 347, setting Middlesex 271 to win.
Youngster Martin Andersson served up a career-best 83, but had little support.
After being reduced to 3 for 3, Tom Bailey took 5-41 as Middlesex made 165.
Added to his first-innings 5-78, that meant a match haul of 10-119 from Bailey, who performed the feat for the second time in his career - and both times it has been against Middlesex, having first done it at Lord's in 2017.
The visitors got off to another bad start when Nick Gubbins was bowled playing no shot to Bailey, who then trapped Max Holden leg before wicket next delivery.
Middlesex captain Dawid Malan survived the hat-trick ball, but then completed a pair in the match when he got undone by a ball from Graham Onions which stopped on him as he ballooned a catch off a leading edge to Bailey in the covers.
In the first innings, they had been 34-6, only to fight back to reach 337, earning a first-innings lead of 78, but there was to be no repeat.
Only briefly, when they took tea on 126-5, needing 144 runs to win, did the visitors look to be with a chance.
But, after adding 81 with Andersson, James Harris added just one to his score after the interval, caught behind off Bailey. And that started a slide of the last five Middlesex wicket going down for just 29 runs.
Having sealed silverware on the first day of this match, Lancashire were presented with the Division Two trophy - their third in their four promotion seasons of 2005, 2013 and 2017, when they went up as runners-up to Surrey.
After failing to win in six Championship home games at Old Trafford in 2018, Lancs have this time won all five at county headquarters - their two home draws having been at Aigburth and Sedbergh
Lancs captain Dane Vilas told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"After the disappointment we went through last year it's incredible to be here now and I don't think you could have scripted it any better.
"It was a hard-fought four days against a good side in Middlesex and to win the title here on a lovely Thursday afternoon in front of the members is perfect.
"It's so good to have remained unbeaten, to have played some great cricket and to lift the trophy with a game to go. I feel so proud of the boys and what we've achieved.
"It's going to give me and the whole team great memories. And we're going up with great momentum but it's going to be hard to do well in Division One. We have to come back from the highs of this year and reflect on where we can improve."
Middlesex skipper Dawid Malan told BBC Radio London:
"It's really tough for the batsmen at the moment. Its been a feature of our season that we've been three down inside the first 20 overs.
"We've played on some good wickets but the new ball has done enough and we probably haven't played it as well as we could have done.
"It's a bit doom and gloom but there are positives we can take. Even though we aren't playing as well as we are as a team, we are finding ways to keep a foot in the game.
"And the way Martin Andersson batted after never batting in the top five before was fantastic. There are good signs but we just need to start doing things consistently as a team."
![[Image: EE1xz-Jg-XUAAsn24.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/smNsjr6/EE1xz-Jg-XUAAsn24.jpg)
Lancashire 259: Livingstone 84* & 347: Jennings 97, Livingstone 68, Croft 40; Cummins 4-50
Middlesex 337: Simpson 167*; Bailey 5-78, Parkinson 3-49 & 165: Andersson 83*, Harris 38; Bailey 5-41
Lancashire (21 pts) beat Middlesex (6 pts) by 104 runs
Promoted Lancashire completed their eighth win in 13 County Championship games in 2019 - and their fifth out of five at Old Trafford - as they finally saw off Middlesex by 104 runs.
Steven Croft (40) helped add 58 runs to the hosts' overnight score of 289-8 as they were bowled out for 347, setting Middlesex 271 to win.
Youngster Martin Andersson served up a career-best 83, but had little support.
After being reduced to 3 for 3, Tom Bailey took 5-41 as Middlesex made 165.
Added to his first-innings 5-78, that meant a match haul of 10-119 from Bailey, who performed the feat for the second time in his career - and both times it has been against Middlesex, having first done it at Lord's in 2017.
The visitors got off to another bad start when Nick Gubbins was bowled playing no shot to Bailey, who then trapped Max Holden leg before wicket next delivery.
Middlesex captain Dawid Malan survived the hat-trick ball, but then completed a pair in the match when he got undone by a ball from Graham Onions which stopped on him as he ballooned a catch off a leading edge to Bailey in the covers.
In the first innings, they had been 34-6, only to fight back to reach 337, earning a first-innings lead of 78, but there was to be no repeat.
Only briefly, when they took tea on 126-5, needing 144 runs to win, did the visitors look to be with a chance.
But, after adding 81 with Andersson, James Harris added just one to his score after the interval, caught behind off Bailey. And that started a slide of the last five Middlesex wicket going down for just 29 runs.
Having sealed silverware on the first day of this match, Lancashire were presented with the Division Two trophy - their third in their four promotion seasons of 2005, 2013 and 2017, when they went up as runners-up to Surrey.
After failing to win in six Championship home games at Old Trafford in 2018, Lancs have this time won all five at county headquarters - their two home draws having been at Aigburth and Sedbergh
Lancs captain Dane Vilas told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"After the disappointment we went through last year it's incredible to be here now and I don't think you could have scripted it any better.
"It was a hard-fought four days against a good side in Middlesex and to win the title here on a lovely Thursday afternoon in front of the members is perfect.
"It's so good to have remained unbeaten, to have played some great cricket and to lift the trophy with a game to go. I feel so proud of the boys and what we've achieved.
"It's going to give me and the whole team great memories. And we're going up with great momentum but it's going to be hard to do well in Division One. We have to come back from the highs of this year and reflect on where we can improve."
Middlesex skipper Dawid Malan told BBC Radio London:
"It's really tough for the batsmen at the moment. Its been a feature of our season that we've been three down inside the first 20 overs.
"We've played on some good wickets but the new ball has done enough and we probably haven't played it as well as we could have done.
"It's a bit doom and gloom but there are positives we can take. Even though we aren't playing as well as we are as a team, we are finding ways to keep a foot in the game.
"And the way Martin Andersson batted after never batting in the top five before was fantastic. There are good signs but we just need to start doing things consistently as a team."
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