Afridi gets Labuschagne again as Siddle shines

Australian batting star Marnus Labuschagne has been dismissed by Pakistan pace ace Shaheen Shah Afridi for the fifth time in seven first-class innings as Middlesex took a stranglehold of their County Championship match against Glamorgan.

Labuschagne, the world's No.1 ranked Test batter, was trapped lbw by Afridi for 23 on Friday, a day after he had chopped on off the Pakistani's bowling for just eight.

The Queenslander was visibly disappointed when the umpire raised his finger and seemingly indicated he had got an inside edge.

Afridi's double over Labuschagne in Cardiff comes after he had dismissed the right-hander three times in five innings in Australia's recent Test series win in Pakistan.

The left-armer had also dismissed Labuschagne twice during Australia's 2019 home series against Pakistan, but not until the Queenslander had posted scores of 185 and 162.

Labuschagne, however, did get one back on his rival, dismissing Afridi with his leg-spin in Middlesex's innings as he finished with 2-3 from 2.2 overs.

Labuschagne's dismissal on Friday was part of another Glamorgan batting collapse at Sophia Gardens that left them struggling at 6-104 at stumps, still trailing Middlesex by 110 runs.

The home side had been dismissed for just 122 in their first innings before a defiant century from John Simpson lifted Middlesex from 6-110 to a total of 336.

Australian Michael Neser took 2-67 for Glamorgan while Afridi so far has match figures of 4-61 on debut for Middlesex.

SCORES: County Championship, Div 1 and Div 2

At The Oval, Australian veteran Peter Siddle marked his 200th first-class match by taking two key wickets for Somerset in their match against Surrey.

Siddle, who became the first Australian fast bowler to the 200-game milestone since Michael Kasprowicz in 2004, dismissed Surrey opener Ryan Patel and incumbent England Test wicketkeeper Ben Foakes to finish day two with figures of 2-23 from 17 overs.

Image Id: 5E28053D6E5D495D8097E165C6C3D9D1 Image Caption: Siddle celebrates the wicket of Ben Foakes // Getty

At stumps, Surrey were 5-204 in reply to Somerset's first innings of 337.

In Birmingham, Queenslander Mark Steketee took four wickets for Essex but couldn't prevent Warwickshire taking control of their match at Edgbaston.

Steketee finished with figures of 4-130 but Essex, who were dismissed for just 168 in their first innings, will start Saturday's play trailing by 217 runs after Warwickshire posted 385 in their first innings.

Australians in 2022 County Championship

Essex: Mark Steketee

Glamorgan: Marnus Labuschagne, Michael Neser

Gloucestershire: Marcus Harris

Kent: Jackson Bird

Middlesex: Peter Handscomb

Northamptonshire: Matt Kelly

Nottinghamshire: James Pattinson

Somerset: Matt Renshaw, Peter Siddle

Sussex: Josh Philippe

Warwickshire: Nathan McAndrew

Get the full rundown of Australians playing county cricket in 2022