LV= COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION TWO, New Road:
DAY THREE: Worcestershire 287 & 119 beat Middlesex 126 & 169 by 111 runs
Worcestershire 21 pts, Middlesex 3 pts
Match scorecard

Strauss failed twice in his first competitive game since January

Worcestershire paceman Alan Richardson claimed a four-wicket haul on his debut to propel his former county Middlesex to a three-day defeat at New Road.

Resuming at 12-1, chasing 281 to win, Middlesex were bowled out for 169.

Victory always looked likely for the hosts after Richardson trapped England captain Andrew Strauss, who made only one in the first innings, lbw for 15.

Richardson ended with 4-35, backed by Gareth Andrew's 3-40 as only Dawid Malan (69) offered any real resistance.

Strauss added just five to his overnight score, facing only 38 balls in just 45 minutes at the crease in his first competitive game since opting to sit out England's tour of Bangladesh.

Former Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Warwickshire seamer Richardson ended up with match figures of 6-76 on his first appearance for his new county following his winter move from Lord's.

It was Worcestershire's first County Championship win since August 2008, having gone through the whole of last season's relegation campaign without a victory. And it was July 2008 since they had last won at New Road.

After 19 games without a Championship win, Vikram Solanki's men scented overdue success when they bagged Strauss cheaply for the second time in the match.

Worcestershire's director of cricket Steve Rhodes told BBC Hereford & Worcester:

"80-0 in the first innings was always going to set up something that we knew would be a reasonable score on a wicket that was genuinely quite difficult to bat on.

"But the positive thing about the wicket was that it carried and that is one of things that we want to get here at Worcester.

"We want to get the ball going through to the keeper. It certainly did that so for a game starting on 9 April, so we are relatively pleased."

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