The Cat refuses to count his chickens

Middlesex 424 v Durham 186-9

If the name Phil Tufnell was on the lips of every Middlesex follower yesterday, then it was not surprising. First he was being mentioned in the same breath as the rest of the putative England squad as the fourth highest wicket- taker of the season; second, he went into this match needing just four more wickets to reach the magic mark of 1,000 in his first-class career.

There was no apparent urgency until a magical spell of three wickets in 16 balls late on took him up to a nervy 999, at which point the remnants of the crowd craned forward a little more with every over the Cat bowled from his beloved Nursery End.

He was in the middle of his second stint when the wickets finally came; his opening nine overs merely cost a lot of sweat and 29 runs. The brilliant intervention of Ben Hutton at forward short leg accounted for Andrew Pratt; the secure hands of Mike Roseberry claimed a bat-pad from Michael Gough, while Danny Law's foolhardy charge saw him bowled. But James Brinkley and Nicky Hatch clearly did not fancy becoming a quiz question, so Tufnell will have to wait until this morning, or more probably the Durham follow-on, which looks inevitable, before he reaches the landmark.

Whether the three yesterday will be enough to persuade the Test selectors is doubtful, and the country's leading left-arm spinner was playing down all the hype and hope. While others busied themselves counting chickens the Cat could see only eggs. "If I don't get the call it's just one of those things," he said between mouthfuls of a hastily eaten lunch before preparing to go out and take the field. "I have been getting some wickets and hitting a good rhythm, but I am not a selector. Right now I am more interested in helping Middlesex get promoted."

There was a danger amidst the focus on Tufnell and his target that Hutton's excellent effort would be ignored. This rapidly blossoming player reached a more modest career landmark by scoring his first hundred on this ground, his second in the Championship and his third of the season and his career – over a patient six hours. He will never lose the tag of being Sir Len's grandson and Richard's son, but the young pup is finally revealing some serious pedigree. He has almost 750 first-class runs at an impressive 46 this season – little wonder that Middlesex top the Second Division with old and young talent strutting their stuff in this way.