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Ben Geddes scored his first century for Middlesex and Naavya Sharma took four wickets to put Division Two leaders Leicestershire under pressure on day two of their County Championship match at the Uptonsteel County Ground.

Badly dropped on 11 on the first evening, Geddes, 23, was eventually out for a career-best 137 as the visitors amassed a challenging total of 534 after being asked to bat first.

Then England Under-19 right-arm quick Sharma – playing in only his third first-class match at 19-years-old – plunged them into disarray with four wickets in 11 balls as the promotion favourites found themselves in unfamiliar territory, despite a half-century from opener Rishi Patel.

Ben Green, the on-loan Somerset all-rounder who had been guilty of the error from which Geddes profited so handsomely, had been the best of a depleted home attack with 3-54 from 28 overs, seamer Roman Walker finishing with a career-best 3-78.

Geddes, who moved to Middlesex from Surrey over the winter, supplemented Sam Robson’s 133 on day one as next-to-bottom Middlesex posted their biggest total of the summer before Sharma (4-24) showed the way to bowl with the much-criticised Kookaburra ball, finding movement that had eluded others.

Tom Helm chipped in with two of his own as Leicestershire plunged from 39-1 to 99-8, as the hosts finished the day on 103-8.

Earlier, Middlesex added a further 102 before lunch to their 336-five overnight for the loss only of nightwatchman Sharma.

Leicestershire could not make more inroads until the eighth over after lunch when Cracknell (38) nicked Green to first slip, the pair having added 92 for the seventh wicket.

Moments earlier, Geddes had pulled Sam Wood for his ninth four to complete his hundred from 167 balls.

Zafar Gohar was caught off bat and pad, before Geddes, having overtaken his previous best (124 for Surrey v Kent in 2022), was bowled by Patel, whose off-spin had not been seen in competitive professional cricket before last week, but now has two wickets to his name.

Noah Cornwell, the 20-year-old left-arm seamer, was leg before without scoring but Middlesex would have been delighted with their work, even though it was worth only three bonus points.

They were happier still to have Leicestershire 39-2 inside nine overs in reply.

Sol Budinger perished for 10 from eight balls, leg before to Cornwell. Trevaskis, promoted to number three in the absence of the injured Rehan Ahmed, fell for three, edging Ryan Higgins to first slip.

Patel and Lewis Hill battled to rebuild, but after the third-wicket pair had added a painstaking 43 in 16 overs, the Middlesex tactic of bowling short to Hill paid off as the former Leicestershire captain was caught behind off the glove, pulling.

What looked initially like a well-worked breakthrough on a pitch that had hardly been helpful until then turned out to be the start of a devastating spell by Sharma that yielded four wickets in 11 balls without a run conceded.

The right-arm quick followed the dismissal of Hill by nipping one away to have Australian Test batter Peter Handscomb nicking behind, before taking two in three balls as Green fended to short leg and Ben Cox was beaten past the inside edge to be leg before, leaving Leicestershire in deep trouble at 88-6.

That became 99-8 as Helm bowled Patel and had Logan van Beek caught behind from consecutive deliveries before Chris Wright survived the hat-trick ball.

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Jake Libby achieved a career-best unbeaten 228 as Worcestershire compiled the third-highest first-class score in their history.

Stand-in captain Libby batted throughout a 10-hour vigil to secure a second Championship double hundred, while underpinning his side’s vast 679-7 declared – the third biggest total in Worcestershire’s history.

His double century was paired with Adam Hose’s on day one – making it the first time two Worcestershire batters had passed 200 in an innings, while Gareth Roderick’s 80 kept Libby company for much of day two.

The declaration at tea left Hampshire 32 overs until close, and during the evening the hosts managed to lose their top three on a lifeless pitch to end the day on 68-3 – an ominous 611 in arrears.

Aged 21, Libby scored a double ton in Nottinghamshire’s Second XI. On Championship debut, Libby scored a 247-ball century. In 2021, he batted for 681 minutes – two minutes shy of the longest Championship innings – to save a match against Essex.

This innings shouldn’t have come as a shock to anyone, especially when it became clear before lunch on day one that the Hampshire bowlers were in for a torturous time with the pitch and Kookaburra ball.

While Hose scored with abandon, Libby frustrated and accumulated. The pair put on 395 with their contrasting style until Hose’s departure late on the opening day.

Nightwatcher Adam Finch and Ethan Brookes fell in the morning session but Hampshire only managed to pick up one bowling point, with Worcestershire counting the maximum five batting points to reverse their batting woes this season.

Finch edged the three-wicket James Fuller behind, while Brookes left a straight one from Kyle Abbott.

But Libby persisted, passing 150 with his sole six – towering Liam Dawson straight down the ground – and found Roderick a similarly stubborn partner.

Roderick had barely scraped 250 runs together in 16 previous innings this season, but given the perfect batting conditions, upped the price on his wicket.

It wasn’t pretty viewing in the roasting south coast sun, but it kept the scoreboard slowly ticking and the Hampshire bowlers, eight of whom were used in total, toiling.

Roderick’s second fifty of the season came in 114 balls, but it was overshadowed by Libby raising his bat on 200 after 399 deliveries.

Roderick top-edged a sweep to fall for 80 and Matthew Waite was carelessly run out before Tom Taylor added 51 with Libby.

With a new ball ready after tea, Libby decided to put Hampshire’s bowlers out of their misery by concluding his and Worcestershire’s innings, having cleared his previous high of 215.

The 679 was the highest Worcestershire score away from New Road and the highest total by a visiting team to Utilita Bowl – second only to the 714 Hampshire posted against Notts in 2005 overall.

Hampshire’s response was not wholly unsurprising after 160 overs of draining fielding in mercury rising temperatures.

Fletcha Middleton and Ali Orr had already been given lives when chances were shelled in the slips, but didn’t cash in.

Middleton never looked comfortable before a hooping in-swinging from Taylor hit his pads in front, while Orr seemed to find rhythm until shabbily turning Finch to leg slip.

Nick Gubbins followed to give Taylor a second leg-before wicket but Tilak Varma and Ben Brown remained for the last 40 balls of the day.

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