Two South Africans spent Thursday on opposite sides of the same English county match. Leus du Plooy, born in Pretoria and brought through Free State and Northerns, is captaining Middlesex. Keaton Jennings, born in Johannesburg and once the captain of a South Africa Under-19 side, was opening the batting for Lancashire. That is why a Middlesex vs Lancashire fixture at a school ground in north-west London is worth ten minutes of a South African cricket follower’s morning, and why the scorecard reads differently here than it does in Manchester.
The match turned decisively on the second day. Middlesex were dismissed for 247, then bowled Lancashire out for 151 and closed on 116 for 2, a lead of 212 with eight wickets in hand. Jennings was trapped in front by Tom Helm for a single-figure score. Du Plooy had already done his work the day before.
Jimmy Anderson, 44, and the job Keaton Jennings handed over
The Lancashire side Jennings opened for is captained, in this competition, by Jimmy Anderson. Anderson was made the county’s full-time four-day captain for 2026 after Jennings stepped down from the role in May 2025, with Josh Bohannon staying on as his deputy and Jennings keeping the Twenty20 captaincy. It is an unusual arrangement: a 44-year-old fast bowler leading a red-ball side, with the man he replaced walking out to open.
Anderson very nearly did not play at all. A calf problem had kept him out for two months and was still troubling him on the morning of the match. He bowled anyway, taking 2 for 30 on the rain-shortened first day and 3 for 40 on the second, working long spells down the slope from the Benham End. His one reward on Thursday was faintly unjust: a delivery that stayed low and slid under Luke Hollman’s bat, ending the Middlesex opener on his overnight 54.
The family footnote matters more to readers here. Keaton Jennings is the son of Ray Jennings, who was appointed South Africa’s head coach in October 2004 and who, as a wicketkeeper, was the country’s first choice through the isolation years, restricted to 14 appearances against rebel touring sides. His son led South Africa Under-19s on a tour of England in 2011, moved to England the following April, qualified in 2016 and went on to play 17 Tests for the country he had toured against.
How the second day unravelled at Merchant Taylors’ School
Middlesex lost their last wickets in a rush and were gone at lunch for 247, Ryan Higgins top-scoring with 44. Ben Walkden and George Balderson took three apiece alongside Anderson. Ben Geddes fell leg before to the opening ball of a Balderson spell, and Walkden bowled Harry Duke and Zafar Gohar within three deliveries, each through the gate. Toby Roland-Jones drove three fours straight back past the bowler and Tom Helm struck the innings’ only six, but the hosts still finished without a batting point.
Lancashire then collapsed harder. Helm had Jennings leg before cheaply and found the edge of Harry Singh with a ball that lifted from short of a length. Marcus Harris was the fifth leg-before decision of the match, and when Naavya Sharma, already an England Lion, knocked back Rocky Flintoff’s off stump the visitors were 35 for 4. Matty Hurst, pressed into opening, made 46 through a blow on the grille and a shout for a catch behind. Arav Shetty cleared the long-leg boundary to drop one in the beer tent off Helm, then edged behind, and Walkden made a brisk 28 before Sharma moved one away from him and later bowled Hurst outright.
Helm finished with 4 for 40, Higgins 3 for 39 and Sharma 3 for 39, and the first-innings lead was 96. Batting again, Middlesex lost Hollman for 22 and Sam Robson for 10, but Max Holden, who had made a duck in the first innings, counter-attacked to 50 not out from 45 balls with nine fours, reaching the mark off the day’s last over with Geddes unbeaten on 24 alongside him.
Why Lancashire, not Middlesex, are the story here
The County Championship is England’s four-day, first-class domestic competition, played across two divisions with promotion and relegation decided at the end of the season. Rothesay is its title sponsor. Division Two holds eight counties in 2026, and Lancashire, one of the biggest names in the English game, are seventh of those eight on 97 points, ahead only of Gloucestershire. Durham lead the division on 191, with Kent and Northamptonshire level on 154 and Worcestershire on 130. Middlesex sit fifth on 116.
That context is the reason this match reads as more than a routine fixture. Lancashire are trying to avoid one of the worst Championship finishes in their history, and they are doing it with a 44-year-old opening bowler as captain and a South African-born opener at the top of the order.
What it means for South African punters
- Day three starts at 11:00 BST on Friday 4 September, which is 12:00 SAST. Britain runs an hour behind South Africa at this time of year, and the match is scheduled to finish on Saturday 5 September.
- Middlesex lead by 212 with eight second-innings wickets standing, and both counties have banked three points so far. A Middlesex win is the position the scorecard points to, but four-day cricket at an out-ground in September rewards patience over certainty.
- Merchant Taylors’ School in Northwood is a school ground, not a county headquarters, and the surface has already produced 22 wickets in two days. Totals here have been small.
- Watch the two South Africans for different reasons. Du Plooy made 41 from 71 balls on day one and was caught by Jennings off Balderson, one South African seeing off the other. Jennings needs second-innings runs after falling leg before to Helm. We have also looked at the South Africans in the Division Two promotion race at Canterbury.
- A South African broadcast feed for County Championship cricket is not confirmed, so check your own listings rather than assuming it sits where Proteas matches do.
- For more cricket from this English season, see our Lord’s Test preview and our piece on the wobble seam, then compare the same market across our reviewed sportsbooks before you take a price.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Leus du Plooy? A Pretoria-born left-handed batter, full name Jacobus Leus du Plooy, who came through Free State, Knights, Northerns and Titans before joining Derbyshire on a Kolpak deal in April 2019 and captaining them from October 2022. He moved to Middlesex for the 2024 season on a contract to 2028 and was appointed club captain across all formats in July 2025. Hungarian citizenship allows him to play as a non-overseas player.
Is Keaton Jennings South African? He was born in Johannesburg on 19 June 1992 and captained South Africa Under-19s on their 2011 tour of England. He moved to England in April 2012, became eligible in 2016 after the four-year residency period, and played 17 Tests for England between 2016 and 2019. He has been at Lancashire since 2018.
What is County Championship Division Two? It is the second tier of England’s four-day first-class competition. Eight counties contest it in 2026, with promotion to Division One and relegation from it settled at the end of the season. Middlesex and Lancashire are both in this tier.
