Franklin leads way to peg back Essex

Middlesex maintained their interest in an unlikely treble with a dramatic victory against Essex in the Royal London Cup at Lord's. Defending 219 for 8 they looked to be heading for defeat when Essex reached 100 for 1 in the 22nd over. However, with boundary-hitting increasingly difficult on a used pitch they squeezed the life from the visitors' innings to win by four runs.

Nick Browne launched the Essex innings with a flurry of fours on his way to 79 in 94 balls but his team-mates were unable to build on the platform. Toby Roland-Jones took 4 for 40 and James Franklin 3 for 25 as Essex, who would have booked a home quarter-final with a win, were restricted to 215 for 9.

Middlesex, already in the quarter-finals of the NatWest T20 Blast and leading the Specsavers County Championship, now need to beat Surrey at Lord's on Tuesday and hope other results go their way. Essex need a win at Gloucestershire the same day to secure their last-eight place.

Middlesex's 50-over captain Franklin* also top-scored with 55. The Kiwi nursed into recovery an innings which seemed fatally damaged by a spell of 3 for 3 in 11 balls by teenage allrounder Dan Lawrence. The 19-year-old finished with 3 for 35, his best return in any form of senior cricket.

Despite missing Dawid Malan with a groin injury, Middlesex had begun brightly with Paul Stirling driving over extra cover for six to the shorter Tavern boundary but the introduction of spin, in the form of Lawrence and Ashar Zaidi, then Tom Westley, slowed progress.

Between them the trio bowled 24 overs for 90 runs with Lawrence the pick. His trio of quick wickets reduced Middlesex from 87 for 1 to 97 for 4 with Test batsmen George Bailey and Robson among the victims. With Malan out and Eoin Morgan absent with a broken finger it was left to Franklin, with support from John Simpson (33), to rebuild.

Middlesex's total seemed seemed to be insufficient as Browne launched into the Middlesex attack hitting eight boundaries off the first six overs. However, as with Middlesex innings, scoring then slowed especially when Browne, having edged between keeper and slip on 55, then been dropped by Bailey on 69, ran out of luck to be bowled off an inside edge by Franklin.

With boundaries drying up the required run rate crept up and wickets fell often enough to keep Middlesex interested. Prime amongst these was Ravi Bopara, who scored 34 off 60 balls without a boundary. That thrust the responsibility on Zaidi whose big-hitting won the T20 match between the teams earlier this week. He needed 11 of the last over, bowled by Franklin, but was leg before first ball.