Nottinghamshire rounded off their 2023 LV= Insurance County Championship campaign with victory against Middlesex in a tight and tense affair at Trent Bridge.

Fittingly, it was number 10 Jake Ball - in his final appearance for Nottinghamshire - who swept Robson for the winning boundary after Middlesex had set the hosts 207 in 58 overs, before snaring eight wickets in a bid to maintain Division One status.

Kent, however, were the beneficiaries of Nottinghamshire’s win with the Seaxes unable to escape the drop.

Earlier, Robson hit an 109-ball unbeaten 105 that contained only three fours, and De Caires 49 from 47 as the two shared an 83-run sixth-wicket partnership before the declaration came, with Roland-Jones needing to take a gamble if his bowlers were to have any chance of taking 10 wickets on a pitch that, while taking spin, was still essentially a good surface for batting. 

Hutton’s 2-38 had confirmed him as the season’s leading wicket-taker across both divisions on 62 and as Ben Slater added a 49 to his first-innings 140 Nottinghamshire looked to be cruising on 133-2. 

There had been only sporadic glimmers of hope for Middlesex, Haseeb Hameed pulled Tom Helm to square leg in the 16th over. Ten overs later, John Simpson executed a sharp stumping to enable De Caires to end Steven Mullaney’s progress at 30 from 34 balls.

But then wickets came in consecutive overs twice as the turning ball suddenly became a potent weapon.

Joe Clarke was bowled by off-spinner Yadav for 22 in the 31st, before Slater was leg before to Robson in the 32nd.

Tom Moores was caught at deep midwicket on the slog-sweep off Robson in the 36th and Lyndon James leg before on the back foot to Yadav in the 37th, leaving Nottinghamshire 152-6, still 55 short of the target.

And the odds looked to be tipping firmly in Middlesex’s favour as Robson bowled Calvin Harrison in the 40th, giving Robson career-best figures with the ball as a bonus.

But Montgomery played the spinners well and Hutton brought a calm authority to proceedings, the pair adding 45 for the seventh wicket.

There was still for one more scare as Hutton, with just five needed, swiped at Robson to be caught behind.

But Ball kept his nerve to get the job done, punching the air as his sweep off Robson beat the infield, achieving a fourth win of the season and a sixth-place finish for Nottinghamshire, who were promoted with Middlesex as Division Two champions last year.