Middlesex suffered the indignity of a three-wicket loss to Herefordshire at Kingsland - only the 11th time since the Gillette Cup started nearly 40 years ago that a Minor County has beaten first-class opposition.

An opening stand of 129 off 170 balls between Harshad Patel and Nathan Round exposed the shortcomings of the Middlesex attack and gave the home side an ideal start as they chased 279 for victory.

Angus Fraser went for 33 runs in his first four overs and Jamie Hewitt conceded 36 off his first five.

Patel and Round hit 14 boundaries in the first ten overs at the end of which they had 79 on the board.

The introduction of Phil Tufnell and Paul Weekes slowed the scoring but, after that start, the home batsmen were not under much pressure.

When Round had gone for 66 and Patel for 68, the lower order did the rest and, mainly thanks to 34 by Ismail Dawood, they eventually got home with three wickets and one ball to spare.

A key moment came in the 41st over when Dawood, on 14, skied the ball to long on but Robin Weston put the catch down.

After winning the toss Middlesex batted first and lost Andy Strauss in the first over. Their main contribution was a fifth-wicket partnership of 87 in 15 overs between David Nash, who was top-scorer with 58, and Mike Roseberry, who did second best with 46.

But in the end it was the bowling that let Middlesex down and, amid great excitement and much rejoicing, Herefordshire reached their target in the final over, Aamir Farooque scoring the all-important winning run.

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