County Championship: Handscomb hits Lord’s ton for Leicestershire

Peter Handscomb’s first century at Lord’s rescued Leicestershire from early trouble as their County Championship Division Two clash with Middlesex finally got under way on day two.

The Australian never passed 50 at the ground in two partial seasons at the home of cricket, but the former Middlesex skipper haunted them here with a 188-ball 109 spanning 305 minutes as the visitors reached 306 having earlier stumbled to 83-4.

Handscomb – dropped on 48 – shared stands of 64 with Rehan Ahmed, who made 42, and 82 with Tom Scriven, who hit 46.

Ethan Bamber proved the pick of the Middlesex attack with 4-68.

The hosts, left 18 overs to bat, closed 64 for one, Mark Stoneman the wicket to fall.

After an opening day lost entirely to rain it came as little surprise, despite bright overhead conditions, that home skipper Toby Roland-Jones opted to bowl first on winning the toss.

In only the fifth over Bamber swung one into Rishi Patel which straightened off the pitch and crashed into his off stump before Marcus Harris was pinned lbw.

Lewis Hill edged Ryan Higgins’ third ball to slip and Louis Kimber lazily hooked Henry Brookes’ fourth ball of the day down the throat of deep square to leave Leicestershire struggling.

Handscomb steadied the ship with Ahmed, who was dropped by Stephen Eskinazi at slip off Bamber, who eventually had him caught and bowled.

Three quick wickets saw Middlesex reduce the visitors to 208-8, but Handscomb and Scriven frustrated them to help their side get past 300.

Handscomb reached his landmark with the help of nine fours and added one more before being last out, giving Bamber a fourth victim.

Stoneman fell early in Middlesex reply, bowled around his legs by Ben Mike, but Sam Robson, playing for the first time since injuring his thumb in the opening game of the season against Glamorgan, and the in-form Max Holden batted through to stumps without undue alarm.