Lancashire took a huge leap towards surviving the drop in the first division by earning a nine-point draw against title-chasing Middlesex in the final home game of the season.
Middlesex set the Red Rose an unlikely target of 309 from 44 overs and Jos Buttler made an entertaining 26 from 14 balls with a plethora of trademark ramp shots, but Lancashire settled for a draw, finishing on 80/1.
Overnight batsmen Dawid Malan (87) and John Simpson (74) batted for the entire morning session to deny Lancashire a victory that would have guaranteed their first division status, as they went on to share 151 runs for the fifth wicket. Simon Kerrigan finished with match figures of 10-166 after pulling Lancashire back into contention with a flurry of wickets after lunch, as Middlesex lost four wickets for 19 runs in their search for quick runs to set Lancashire a target.
The visitors declared on 225/8 and when Buttler opened the batting, it suggested that Lancashire were interested in pursuing 309 runs to win at a rate of more than seven runs per over, particularly when the England ODI captain started ramping Steven Finn and Toby Roland-Jones. But, once he fell, first-innings centurion Rob Jones and England-bound Haseeb Hameed both made 25 to steer Lancashire to the close with a valuable draw.
Both Malan and Simpson reached half-centuries in the morning session, as Kerrigan's search for an early breakthrough continued to be thwarted by their stoic approach. Simpson made the most of a dropped catch by Buttler on 8 when he edged Kyle Jarvis in the opening stages of the final day and this proved to be as close as Lancashire came before lunch.
Malan - who reached a 128-ball fifty before the break - was well on his way to reaching three figures when he edged an innocuous delivery from Kerrigan behind to Buttler, as Middlesex reached 206/5. From that moment on, the Division One leaders threw the bat in order to set Lancashire a possible fourth innings run-chase, but Ashley Giles's side were content with a draw given that they found themselves 6/4 and 32/5 in their first innings.
The decision to promote Roland-Jones initially reaped rewards for Middlesex when he clobbered Kerrigan for a straight six, but the left-arm spinner struck with his next ball, having taken his first-class tally beyond 300 wickets yesterday evening. Roland-Jones mistimed and skied Kerrigan to Jones in the covers and skipper James Franklin followed for a two-ball duck in the same over when he picked out Steven Croft on the long-off boundary.
Simpson capitalised on being dropped by Buttler to reach his eighth fifty of the season in 150 deliveries before lunch, but his wicket made it four wickets for 19 runs inside five overs. Luke Procter (1-41) bowled Simpson for 74 when he shuffled across his crease and had his leg-stump uprooted, with Middlesex declaring soon after his departure.
Buttler gave Lancashire early hope with his typically eye-catching approach, hitting his first ball for a boundary and taking 13 runs from his first six balls at the crease. By the time the wicketkeeper-batsman fell for 26, he was responsible for all of Lancashire's runs, including a scooped six into the pavilion.
His cavalier tact was entirely contrasted by Jones, who scored a maiden first-class century in Lancashire's first innings, playing a crucial role in earning the Red Rose a hard-fought draw. Buttler's cameo came to an end when a leading edge off Finn (1-20) flew to Nick Compton in the covers, with this wicket ending any remote interest Lancashire had in chasing 309.
For the rest of the match, Jones and Hameed kept Middlesex at bay with an unbeaten 54-run partnership, with a nine-point draw taking Lancashire above Warwickshire ahead of their meeting at Edgbaston in the final round of matches. With Durham beating Surrey, one of three teams will join Nottinghamshire in the second division next season out of Lancashire, Warwickshire and Hampshire.
For Middlesex, an 11-point draw means that they enter their match against Yorkshire in a strong position, knowing that the White Rose would need to beat them to stand any chance of achieving their third successive title. Somerset will also head into the final round of matches with a chance of lifting silverware after beating Yorkshire inside three days by ten wickets at Headingley.
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