Middlesex Tamil Sports and Social Club moved joint top of the Middlesex Championship Division One after a 78-run win over Crouch End.

The side got off to a poor start as they lost their openers early in the innings and found themselves on 52 for four.

Middlesex needed to be patient as Mustafa Bhagat and Sharu Yoganathan added another 32 runs before Bhagat was caught.

Kavi Kannathasan then joined Sharu Yoganathan who went on to score 46 before he was caught in a similar fashion to Bhagat.

The team were staring at a low score when Kannathasan took control of the innings. A blistering knock by the powerful left-hand batsman took him to 40 in no time as they finished up with a total of 178 for nine.

Menon Ponnambalam reduced Crouch End to three for nine after a blistering start.

David Devadoss went onto dismantle Crouch End as the home team struggled to cope with his variation and guile.

Devadoss exhibited excellent maturity with the ball to deceive the batsmen time and again.

Crouch End were struggling at 80 for six and Hammad Bukhari went on to claim the remaining four wickets in quick time.

Devadoss finished with figures of seven for 16 as Crouch End were dismissed for a total of 99.