Relegation battle continues heading into final day of season.

Kerrigan celebrates the wicket of Denly before tea.

Lancashire still have a chance of avoiding relegation heading into the final day of the 2014 season, but they will need to take six more Middlesex wickets and chase a sizable target if they are to achieve victory.

Middlesex ended the third day of their match at Emirates Old Trafford on 202/4 with a lead of 114 runs, a position which suggests they have done enough to maintain Division One status despite Lancashire’s best efforts in the morning session.

The hosts entered Day Three needing 41 runs from 14 overs and scraped over the line thanks to Glen Chapple (45*) and Tom Bailey (13*) who added 31 runs for the ninth-wicket to earn Lancashire a vital bonus point and ensure that the Red Rose could still survive the drop.

Captain Chapple smashed Toby Roland-Jones for six over mid-wicket to take his side close to their target of 300 and Lancashire declared swiftly on 302/8 with a lead of 88 runs and four balls remaining to clinch their third batting point.

The day began on a much more disappointing note for Lancashire, losing overnight batsman, Luke Procter (42) to yet another contentious decision. The Lancashire all-rounder was judged lbw off Tim Murtagh to a delivery that had pitched outside leg-stump and, at such a crucial stage of the game, this was not a wicket Lancashire were happy to surrender.

Still needing 29 more runs for another batting point, the hosts lost Simon Kerrigan for no score as Murtagh (3-69) collected his second wicket in successive overs. This breakthrough meant that Lancashire couldn’t lose another wicket and Chapple, now joined by Bailey, carried a great deal of responsibility for seeing his side over the line.

With the allocation of bonus points heading into its final over, Lancashire required seven runs and a 40-year-old Chapple showed his experience by clobbering a six over mid-wicket to take the hosts to 299 and reach his highest score of the season in the progress.

This six was immediately followed by a three and rather expectedly signalled Lancashire’s declaration with four balls remaining. Middlesex began their second innings needing to overturn a deficit of 88 runs and capitalized on Lancashire’s errors in the field before lunch as they reached the interval on 30/0.

Middlesex opener, Chris Rogers, was the benefactor of these missed chances; the first a sharp catch in the slips to Ashwell Prince and then Karl Brown spilled a chance at extra-cover.

After lunch the Middlesex openers continued to reap the benefits of these early chances, Robson making the better progress as the England opener reached his fourth fifty of the season with the score at 78/0.

But the visitors failed to add to their total before Rogers played on to his own stumps for 21, with Middlesex just 10 runs behind their hosts. Dawid Malan settled well alongside Robson as Middlesex took the lead with nine wickets intact.

Malan favoured the sweep from a very early stage in his innings, but one of these shots resulted in Steven Croft being hit on the neck at short-leg, forcing him to leave the field for a short while.

Lancashire seemed to be stagnating in the afternoon session after failing to hold on to early chances, but when substitute fielder Liam Livingstone took a superb catch to remove Robson for 75, the hosts rediscovered hope before tea as Kerrigan (2-71) claimed a crucial breakthrough.

This renewed confidence came across in the field and Joe Denly (7) fell just before tea as he feathered the ball to Paul Horton at first slip to give a jubilant Kerrigan his second scalp of the innings thus far.

Malan and Eoin Morgan survived the rest of the session as Middlesex reached tea at 141/3 and the pair made good progress after the interval to frustrate Lancashire in their search for wickets. Morgan (41*) showed clear intent, dispatching Kerrigan for six to help develop a more sizeable lead before Juanid Khan was rewarded with his first wicket of the match to remove Malan for 39.

Frustration settled in once more for the hosts, who failed to take any more wickets on Day Three before bad light curtailed proceedings to leave Lancashire with a tough ask on the final day of the season to avoid relegation.