Rogers joy as Middlesex chase record 472

Middlesex completed the highest successful run chase in a County Championship match at Lord’s when they scored 472 to beat Yorkshire by seven wickets yesterday, with Australia’s veteran Test opener Chris Rogers finishing unbeaten on 241.

The chase eclipsed the 366 for 5 Middlesex made to beat Sussex at the ground in 1926. It is the third-highest winning fourth-innings score in all county cricket – the record is also held by Middlesex, who reached a target of 502 to beat Nottinghamshire by four wickets in a three-day match at Trent Bridge in 1925, when the England batsman Patsy Hendren made 206 not out.

Yorkshire were also on the wrong end of things in the second-highest, when Somerset made 479 for 6 at Taunton in 2009 after Peter Trego scored 103 from only 54 balls, including nine sixes.

Big hitting on that scale was not necessary as the 36-year-old Rogers, who scored three centuries against England in the home and away Ashes series after his belated recall to Test cricket last summer, paced his 10th career double-hundred superbly.

Resuming on 122 overnight after completing his first hundred from 133 deliveries, the left-hander’s second spanned just 110. He hit 37 fours during his six and a half hours at the crease, at an average of a boundary from every eighth ball he faced.

Eoin Morgan missed an opportunity to join team-mate Sam Robson in boosting his own Test claims, falling on 27 when he gloved an attempted sweep and was caught at slip. But Neil Dexter finished with a flourish, hitting Kane Williamson’s off-spin for a six and two fours off the last four balls as Middlesex completed a second win in three matches so far. They scored at 4.6 runs per over to finish the job with almost half a day to spare.

It was a chastening experience for the young England batsman Joe Root, who was captaining Yorkshire for the first time in senior cricket.

None of his bowlers served him well on a pitch that flattened out after 20 wickets fell in the equivalent of little more than a day. Jack Brooks, who had been impressive in Yorkshire’s win over Northamptonshire last week, conceded more than six runs an over.

England’s senior pace bowler James Anderson took 10 wickets in a match for the fifth time as Lancashire beat Northamptonshire by 60 runs at Wantage Road.

Sussex crashed to an innings defeat to Somerset at Hove and there were eight wickets in the match for Pakistan spinner Saaed Ajmal as Worcestershire beat Derbyshire by an innings in the Second Division.