Middlesex Vs. Lancashire County Championship Day Three

Lancashire keep their hopes of avoiding the drop alive.

Lancashire earned a first innings lead half

way through the third day at Lords, but they

face a tough challenge to pull of a victory as

Middlesex finished on 129-2 with a lead of

127. The relegation-haunted visitors may

need a Middlesex declaration to stand any

chance of winning this match to help avoid

the drop. Karl Brown (78), Ashwell Prince

(71) and Gareth Cross (59) all completed

half-centuries as Lancashire totalled 448,

with spinner Ravi Patel taking 4-126. But

Australian opener Chris Rogers then hit an

unbeaten 57 as Middlesex recovered from

44-2 to close on 129-2.

Lancashire started the third day on 236-3, and Ashwell Prince and Karl Brown added 30 runs to the visitor’s overnight score, before Prince was caught by David Malan off of Roland Jones, for an impressive score of 71. Despite a good late run of form, Steven Croft was dismissed for just 3, bowled comprehensively by Roland Jones. At 270-5 Lancashire were going strong, but looking like falling well short of Middlesex’s score of 466. A partnership worth 77 between Brown and Gareth Cross guided Lancashire back towards the impressive total set by the home side, Brown reaching 50 in 133 balls with 3 fours and Cross making his 50 in 30 balls with 8 fours.

Cross was dismissed for 59, edging behind to Simpson off of Gareth Berg, as Lancashire reached a steady score of 347-6. A moderate collapse from the visitors threatened to give Lancashire a first innings deficit but the collaborative efforts of Brown (78), Hogg (10), Chapple (29), Shahzad (10) and Kerrigan (3*) saw that the visitors gained a first innings lead, albeit of just two runs. Patel finished with figures of 4-126 as Middlesex started a crucial second innings for the away side.  

Lancashire achieved a similar start to the second innings with the ball, as Middlesex reached just 5 before the loss of Sam Robson (3) who was trapped LBW to Glen Chapple. Joe Denly and Chris Rogers re-built the innings but Middlesex lost Denly for 16, with the home side 44-2. But the efforts of Rogers 57* and Malan 37* meant that Middlesex finished on 129/2, with a lead of 127 runs.