Weekes and Brown make Zimbabwe bowlers pay

Close Middlesex 516 for 6 dec. (Weston 129, Weekes 102*, Brown 98) lead Zimbabwe 176 for 2 (Vermeulen 59, Carlisle 39*) by 340 runs

Mark Vermeulen and Stuart Carlisle went some way to restoring a bit of national pride - not that there's been much of it on this tour - as Zimbabwe finished the second day's play at Shenley on 176 for 2, 340 runs behind Middlesex. Paul Weekes and Michael Brown had earlier subjected Zimbabwe - whose bowling looked as bankrupt as their country's economy - to long and fruitless day-and-a-half in the field.

At a sun-baked Denis Compton Oval, Zimbabwe failed to take a wicket throughout the morning session, in which Weekes and Brown tucked in to some wayward bowling. Brown started the morning with no score to his name, and it surprisingly took him a further 15 minutes to get off the mark - to the 35th ball he received. This was more through nerves than good bowling, though, as the Zimbabwean seamers again produced their regular assortment of the good, the bad and the ugly. Brown soon started to gain in confidence to the extent that he began to outscore Weekes, and set the tone of his innings by smashing all of his first 36 runs in boundaries.

Brown, aged 23 and making a rare appearance in place of the rested David Alleyne, smashed 18 fours and one six in all during a partnership of 184 with Weekes before, aiming for his century with another boundary, swung at Grant Flower and was caught on the long-leg boundary by Sean Ervine for 98. He quite rightly deserved a standing ovation from the 1000-strong crowd, and he also received a smattering of applause from the Zimbabwe bowlers, who were relieved at finally taking a wicket. The total was exactly 500 when Brown departed - the first time Zimbabwe had conceded a total that high in England.

And after Weekes brought up his century - off 209 balls with 16 fours - halfway through the afternoon session, Middlesex declared on 516 for 6 - their highest ever total against a touring team. None of the Zimbabwean bowlers returned figures they would want to remember, with Ervine, Travis Friend and Raymond Price all conceding unwanted centuries.

However, in the Zimbabwe reply, the Middlesex bowlers were none too clever at finding their line either, and openers Dion Ebrahim and Mark Vermeulen got things under way with a series of easy singles mixed with an occasional powerful cover-drive. Vermeulen, in particular, then stepped up the pace in the evening session to reach his fifty off 65 balls, while Ebrahim, though, was a little too impatient in trying to keep up, and he paid the price when he chipped a catch to Chris Peploe at mid wicket off the bowling of Weekes. Ebrahim departed for 30, ending a promising opening stand of 96.

And Vermeulen did not last much longer either, playing all over a yorker from Thos Hunt to be bowled for 59. Stuart Carlisle then maintained his reputation for taking an age to get off the mark before finally pulling a boundary, and with the help of another grafter, Flower, the pair saw Zimbabwe to the close. They did, however, have a little good fortune as both snicked balls over the slips to the boundary, but they and the rest of the batsmen are going to need some more fortune tomorrow to keep in touch with Middlesex's huge first innings.