Alan Richardson's second five-wicket haul of the season ensured Middlesex finished firmly in control in their Frizzell County Championship match with Gloucestershire at Lord's.

Richardson, in his debut season for Middlesex, finished with figures of 5-32 and has now taken 22 first-class wickets this year.

With Melvyn Betts who took 4-86 also excelling, Gloucestershire were dismissed for 232 to give Middlesex a first innings lead of 158.

The only surprise was that the home side did not enforce the follow on.

Gloucestershire openers Craig Spearman and Philip Weston began the day in terrific form, quickly moving to a 50-run stand from 14 overs. They were particularly severe on the wayward Betts, who conceded 24 runs from his first spell.

However, Richardson, switching to the pavilion end, soon took Weston for 25.

Next ball, he accounted for Kadeer Ali after the batsman which left the visitors on 58-2.

Betts returned for the 20th over and went for nine runs, before he took the wicket of Chris Taylor (17) in his next.

The Gloucestershire captain tried to force a wide delivery through offside, but only found Strauss at gully.

Spearman continued to play his shots and was rewarded with his half century before lunch.

Just before the break, Scott Styris was introduced to the attack and responded by taking the wicket of Tim Hancock, trapped leg before for nine.

In the second over after lunch, Spearman (66) became the fifth wicket to fall, followed by the dismissal of Alex Gidman (19), giving Richardson his fourth wicket. Both Adshead and Chandana showed resilience with a stand of 31 before Betts clean bowled Adshead for 27.

Richardson wrapped up the innings taking the wicket of James Averis (21).

n Frizzell County Championship - Division One: Canterbury, Hampshire 328 (S K Warne 107 no, S M Katich 56) & 191-2 (S M Katich 125 no) v Kent 305 (D P Fulton 74, D I Stevens 68, M J Dennington 50); Lord's, Middlesex 390 (E C Joyce 75, P N Weekes 69, O A Shah 63, B J M Scott 58, J Lewis 4-82) & 93-3 v Gloucestershire 232 (C M Spearman 69, A Richardson 5-32, M M Betts 4-86); The Brit Oval, Surrey 444 (A D Brown 122, S A Newman 117, R Clarke 84, J G E Benning 57) & 66-0 v Glamorgan 345 (D S Harrison 75 no, M P Bicknell 6-74); Hove, Sussex 412 (M W Goodwin 108, M H Yardy 88, C J Adams 67) v Warwickshire 179 (J D Lewry 5-46, Mushtaq Ahmed 4-73) & 146 (Mushtaq Ahmed 4-65) Sussex (21pts) beat Warwickshire (2pts) by an innings and 87 runs. Division Two: Old Trafford, Lancashire 199 & 135-5 v Durham 338 (M E K Hussey 144 no, P Mustard 77, M Muralitharan 5-107); Grace Road, Leicestershire 278 (H D Ackerman 85 no, D L Maddy 53) & 183-5 (D Mongia 70) v Yorkshire 151 (I Dawood 62 no, O D Gibson 6-56) Northampton, Northamptonshire 552-7 dec (U Afzaal 168 no, B M Shafayat 153, D G Wright 55) v Essex 156-7 (J Louw 4-45); New Road, Worcestershire 478 (S C Moore 246, D J Pipe 80 no) v Derbyshire 260-9; Tour Match, Fenner's Bangladesh 381 (Javed Omar 167, Mohammad Ashraful 102) & 246-4 dec (Habibul Bashar 75, Shahriar Nafees 50) v British Universities 238 (J P T Knappett 73, L C Parker 65, Shahadat Hossain 4-33) British Universities drew with Bangladesh.