Middlesex made a significant leap towards achieving a first County Championship title in 23 years with a damaging bowling display on Day Two against Lancashire at Emirates Old Trafford.
The Division One front-runners restricted Lancashire to 102/5 after they had posted 327 in their first innings, as 12 wickets fell on an action-packed second day before rain brought a halt to proceedings. A ferocious new-ball spell from Toby Roland-Jones (4-24) saw Lancashire stumble to 6/4 in the eighth over, before Rob Jones (42*) and Liam Livingstone (31*) added an unbroken stand worth 70 runs to lead the Lancashire resistance.
Lancashire had enjoyed a tremendous bowling performance of their own on the second morning, claiming the final eight Middlesex wickets for 79 runs, with seven of those wickets coming in the morning session. Simon Kerrigan (4-80) finished with four wickets the day after renewing his Lancashire contract until 2018, while Kyle Jarvis (3-70) and Tom Bailey (2-72) also contributed to a strong performance, as Middlesex squandered their platform of 248/2.
However, Lancashire were soon on the back foot after lunch, losing England-bound Haseeb Hameed for a nine-ball duck. England's newly elected ODI captain, Jos Buttler, later departed for 16 to leave the Red Rose 32/5, before Jones and Livingstone's rearguard spared Lancashire's blushes. Middlesex's victory charge was held up by bad light and the threat of rain, although with Yorkshire heading for a heavy defeat against Somerset, the visitors will be confident of extending their slender gap at the top of the table ahead of the final round of matches.
Dawid Malan (53) became the fourth Middlesex batsman to reach fifty in the first full over of the day, reaching this milestone in 109 deliveries, but both overnight batsmen were soon back in the pavilion. Malan and Stephen Eskinazi (4) fell in the space of six balls to commence Lancashire's comeback with the ball, as Bailey struck the early breakthrough in forcing Malan to play-on, knocking his leg-stump out of the ground.
Eskinzai then followed in the next over to Jarvis, who claimed his third wicket of the innings when he got one to nibble off the seam and remove the off-stump. Bailey struck again three overs later, encouraging John Simpson (5) to edge to Steven Croft at second slip, as Lancashire seized a second bowling point to leave Middlesex on 272/6. The visitors then lost their fourth wicket of the morning for 37 runs when Ollie Rayner edged Kerrigan's first ball of the day to Livingstone at slip for six, with captain James Franklin guiding his side to a third batting point with one ball to spare in the 110th over.
Kerrigan claimed another scalp soon after when he bowled Roland-Jones for 17 with one that kept low, responding strongly after being hit for a straight six by the Middlesex seamer. Croft (1-19) added to the Middlesex plight, forcing a brilliant one-handed catch from Jones at short-leg to remove Tim Murtagh (4), before Kerrigan wrapped up the innings by bowling Steven Finn for two.
After claiming the final seven Middlesex wickets for 65 runs in the morning session, Lancashire's ecstasy was thrown into sharp relief when their top order collapsed in the face of a rampant new-ball burst from Roland-Jones. Hameed recorded a rare duck when he edged Roland-Jones to Rayner at second slip in the fourth over, before Luke Procter's drive off Murtagh (1-24) flew to Eskinazi in the gully to leave the score at 3/2.
Alviro Petersen (3) followed in the next over - the eighth over of the innings - in controversial fashion, when he was judged caught behind down the leg-side off Roland-Jones, although the South-African batsman suggested that the ball had deflected off his pad as he dragged himself off the pitch in a disconsolate manner. Lancashire's agony continued as 6/3 became 6/4 two balls later, with skipper Croft losing his off-stump to give Roland-Jones his third wicket in 21 balls.
Buttler led a mini revival with three boundaries in the same over off Murtagh, twice driving the Irish pace bowler through the covers, before ending the over with a straight drive towards the pavilion. Jones responded with consecutive boundaries in the next over to suggest that Lancashire were building a vital partnership, but Buttler strangled down the leg-side to Simpson off Roland-Jones at 32/5, as the England wicketkeeper was unable to drag the Red Rose out of the mire.
A new-ball spell of 4-18 in 6.1 overs from Roland-Jones had left Lancashire facing an uphill struggle, but newly-elected opening batsman Jones and Livingstone guided the hosts to close of play with a crucial partnership. The duo occupied the crease for 25 overs with gritty application, although the miserable overhead conditions made their cause all the more difficult.
Middlesex were forced to bowl an over of spin from Rayner before the umpires decided to call an early tea due to bad light at 57/5 and the partnership between Jones and Livingstone continued to blossom after the interval. When the evening session started, 45 overs were still due to be bowled in the day, although bad light and the threat of rain meant that a total of 28 overs were lost from the day's play.
Jones - playing in only his third first-class game for Lancashire - brought up the fifty-partnership with Livingstone in 81 balls with a sumptuous straight drive down the ground and the 20-year-old is on course for a maiden half-century after reaching stumps on a new career-best score of 42 not out. Lancashire still trail by 225 runs heading into the third day, with the follow-on target of 178 being the primary objective for the home side, as they strive to avoid relegation from the first division.
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