Gubbins' 'dream' hundred watched in secret by his parents

Middlesex 407 for 9 (Gubbins 109, Robson 99, Stirling 85, Leach 4-64) lead Somerset 376 by 31 runs
Scorecard

Any young cricketer scoring their maiden first-class century is a moment of self-affirmation and joy. It is vindication for all those hours spent honing technique in the nets in the depths of winter in defiance of more exciting alternatives. Perhaps more than anything it is a moment of relief at an achievement that can never be undone.

Such feelings can only be amplified scoring a maiden century at Lord's. They can only be amplified by parents lurking furtively in the crowd having desisted from telling their son of their presence for fear of jinxing him. And they are amplified further when a player has three times reached the 90s before.

This was Nick Gubbins' lot today when he drove Jim Allenby through midwicket for four, before acknowledging the warm applause of his team-mates and the Lord's crowd: not exuberantly, but with a palpable relish in the moment.

"It's obviously something that's been on my mind. Luckily things went my way this morning and I managed to get there," he reflected, six hours after the event but still jubilant. "I feel a lot more relaxed today than I was tonight. I'm just absolutely delighted. It has been tough - I've got myself out in the 90s so to finally get there at Lord's is a dream come true.

"Words can't describe that feeling. To walk out at Lord's as a Middlesex player is as special as it gets, and today just topped that up even more. My parents were here in secret, and it's my dad's birthday - the stars aligned and it was one of those days when it all went my way." Richard Gubbins will be sure to enjoy his 59th birthday tonight.

It has often felt like Gubbins has been condemned to be written about only in relation to another left-hander who progressed from Radley College to opening for Middlesex: one Andrew Strauss. Today Gubbins made a seminal step towards forging his own identity.

"Obviously that connection has been made. It's a nice connection to have and to have half the career he had would be amazing. I'm not trying to live off it, I'm trying to make my own way in the game and do my own thing.

"He helps me out every now and again. I try not to bother him too much because he's quite a busy man from what I hear. Converting did come up in one of our conversations. That was a couple of years ago so I haven't learned very much."

Like an unkempt student handing in an essay months late, Gubbins finally made good on his master's wishes. Strauss converted 21 of his 48 Test fifties to centuries. Gubbins has now converted one of his nine first-class 50s, and has the game to reach three figures plenty more. In time the most significant similarity between Gubbins and Strauss will not be their school, their county, their positions at the top of the order or their crisp cut shots, but rather their phlegmatic temperaments, and ability to react to cricketing triumph and despair with the same equanimity.

Gubbins was originally recruited with Middlesex envisaging a batsman with a minimalist technique, not dissimilar to Strauss at the start of his career, and he has surprised the club by his development into a three-format cricketer. "Nick's potentially a stronger white-ball cricketer than Strauss - he's got bigger, stronger strokes," said Angus Fraser, Middlesex's Managing Director of Cricket. "There's more to his game than I imagined when we signed him."

So impressed were Middlesex by Gubbins' promise last year, even as he only averaged 27.23, that it influenced Fraser in choosing an overseas player. "One of the main reasons why we did not reengage Chris Rogers was not just because of Adam Voges, but because we wanted to give Gubbins the opportunity so it's great to see him taking it." Rogers, now Somerset captain, could now only applaud admiringly.

Together with Sam Robson, Gubbins is forming a fine opening partnership: a right and left hander, and with distinct strengths. Robson is particularly proficient against anything that drifts onto his pads - his innings contained eight boundaries between square leg and midwicket alone - while Gubbins scores more heavily through the off side. The two backed up their stand of 126 at The Oval last week with an alliance worth 198.

But what Robson would have given for only a single more. After taking 32 balls to navigate the 90s, several times being denied the boundary that would have taken him to a century by sharp fielding, he shaped to cut a ball from Jack Leach. In his mind's eye the ball would have emphatically passed point and brought Robson his moment of history; instead, it only uprooted his leg stump after an inside edge. So a fourth consecutive century in a first-class innings at Lord's, believed to be a record, was no more.

After 400 balls of toil, including three dropped chances off Robson, Somerset finally had a wicket. It proved reinvigorating and, when Tim Groenewald snared Adam Voges and John Simpson lbw, both playing around their pads against the second new ball, Middlesex were 252 for 5 and seemed in danger of conceding a sizeable lead. It fell to Paul Stirling to end the notion.

His has been a curious Middlesex career. He scored two ODI centuries against Pakistan before turning 23, all the while languishing in Middlesex's 2nd XI. Batting in the middle order during the County Championship in 2014, Stirling seemed at ease, averaging 43.87 in six games, but still found himself squeezed out the side last season. When his chance came, it was as an opener after Gubbins was injured. He floundered badly on spicy wickets, failing to pass 50 in seven games.

The upshot was that he began this season out of Middlesex's team and his chance then only arrived at No. 7. In three innings he had made little impact, but here suggested a man finally learning to find a four-day tempo, as imperious driving and an emphatic straight six off Leach were interspersed with 28 singles. As the evening shadows came into views, Stirling threatened to be the second man in the day to score their maiden County Championship century, but his hopes were ended when he misjudged a straight delivery from Leach, whose four wickets and 29 overs were a sign that the new toss regulations have encouraged spin bowling.

They have not, though, encouraged positive results. "You can understand if it's flat, but what we find hard to understand is why, if it's flat, the nicks aren't carrying," Gubbins lamented, though Middlesex might have helped themselves by choosing a surprise declaration over the anaemic late evening batting that followed Stirling's dismissal. Gubbins will be able to radiate in the warm afterglow of his century tonight, knowing that a sixth consecutive Championship draw surely beckons for both sides.