England duo Joe Root and Harry Brook failed with the bat for Yorkshire as Middlesex took control by bowling the visitors out for 159 on the opening day of their County Championship clash at Lord’s.

Middlesex’s Ryan Higgins finished with 4-31, with Toby Roland-Jones taking 3-49 as their opponents were dismissed in just 37.4 overs on a rain-shortened first day of the Division Two contest.

Jordan Thompson and Mickey Edwards struck back with a wicket apiece but Mark Stoneman and Leus du Plooy shared an unbroken partnership of 47 to guide Middlesex to 84-2 at stumps.

Home skipper Roland-Jones put the visitors in after winning the toss but Adam Lyth (15) was the only wicket until heavy rain and a brief hailstorm intervened at 41-1.

It was a different story once play resumed at 2.00pm, with Roland-Jones bowling Finlay Bean off an inside edge before Helm – finding some movement from the Nursery End – tempted Root to steer straight to gully.

Brook’s brief stay at the crease was a torrid one, with his first delivery from Helm soaring off the surface to zip past the bat and the next taking the edge, only to drop short of second slip.

But Bamber’s reintroduction paid immediate dividends as Brook drove his first ball into the hands of the diving Du Plooy at second slip, before Shan Masood was lbw to a delivery that kept low.

Higgins struck twice in three deliveries, removing both Jonny Tattersall and then Thompson leg before, before Ben Coad’s counter-attack took Yorkshire beyond 150.

Middlesex’s Nathan Fernandes and Max Holden departed before another rain delay, but the players returned for nine more overs, during which Stoneman and Du Plooy shaved another 47 runs off the deficit to reach stumps on 38 and 23 respectively.

Report supplied by the ECB Reporters’ Network.