Shah shines as Tufnell is punished

Durham 645-6 dec Middlesex 443-9

It was a wicked shame that, having spent the best part of the day out in the middle making a brave attempt to help Middlesex avoid the follow-on, Owais Shah's heroics on the field should have been overshadowed by events off it.

But while Shah was patiently compiling his first Championship hundred since 4 July last year, the England and Wales Cricket Board announced that Shah's Middlesex colleague Phil Tufnell had been reprimanded for a Level One breach of the new disciplinary code.

Tufnell was reported by umpires John Holder and Mervyn Kitchen for showing dissent on Friday. According to the ECB cricket operations manager, Alan Fordham, the left-arm spinner directed what was described as inappropriate language at Kitchen after a couple of the umpire's decisions.

Kitchen and Holder deliberated on what action to take overnight before making their report to the ECB. Now Tufnell has to be on his best behaviour for the next 12 months. If he commits a similar offence he will have three disciplinary points put against his name. A total of nine warrants an automatic two-match suspension.

Tufnell then found himself on the side of the umpires when Marc Symington was warned for excessive intimidatory bowling at the tail-ender after he joined the Middlesex struggle to reach the 496 runs needed to avoid following on.

Shah had by then done his bit, although he did get a little bogged down between lunch and tea, when he scored just 29 runs. He was eventually out edging Mark Davies's first ball back after a breather.

He had fought something of a lone battle in his six hours at the crease. His team-mates, having worked hard to get themselves in, then seemed bent on getting themselves out. David Nash was run out after hitting a ball straight to a fielder, Ed Joyce was strangled down the leg side, Paul Weekes chipped to mid-on, Simon Cook smacked a ball down long leg's throat, while Chad Keegan heaved a ball again to long leg.

So it was left to Tufnell, who faced 37 balls late in the day, and the obdurate Aaron Laraman to take Middlesex to within 53 runs of avoiding the follow-on with an unbroken stand of 20.