Earlier in the day, Middlesex's 1st innings was brought to a premature end by Alan Richardson who removed both Ashley Noffke and Chad Keegan, although Middlesex did manage to secure a second batting point.

Middlesex's 2nd innings took a similar shape to the 1st at the start, as the fifty came up just before the dismissal of Andrew Strauss, with Jamie Dalrymple soon following for another duck- bagging him a pair. But Koenig and Hutton showed fight as they added 159 for the third wicket. Koenig's dismissal brought Ed Joyce to the crease and he joined Hutton in an unbroken stand of 66 to see the 'sex to safety


Day 3
A batting collapse that saw Middlesex go from 58/2 at the start of play to 244/8 at close left Middlesex with a job on their hands with another 103 runs needed to avoid the follow on and no rain forcast for today. It's surely time for a hero to stand up and be counted.

Day 2
A draw looked the most likely outcome at the close of play in a rain affected day. Warwickshire were 496 all out. Ashley Giles scoring 96. Middlesex were 58/2 with Strauss and night-watchman Jamie Dalrymple the batsmen out.

Day 1
Honours were even after a day of fluctuating fortunes at Southgate, which saw Warwickshire close on 315-7, after having been 67-4 in the morning session. Tony Frost was the mainstay of the day, scoring 84, but Dougie Brown stole the show with 17 fours in a blistering century.

Middlesex lost the toss and were inevitably asked to field on a day where temperatures were soaring. The pitch, however, seemed to be doing a bit and the new ball was swinging which allowed Middlesex to account for four key wickets in the 1st session. Chad Keegan was the first to reap the rewards as he bowled England reject Nick Knight for 11, which brought Mark Wagh to the wicket, who scored a record Warwickshire score of 315 last time the two sides met, in 2001. They say that you always follow a good score with a failure and this was certainly the case for the promising Warwickshire batsman as he drove Ashley Noffke straight to Ed Joyce in the Gully before he had even troubled the scorers.

Captain Michael Powell was third out, after having batted patiently for 8 runs in around an hour, falling to a superb inswinging yorker from the surprise first change bowler, Ben Hutton. Some good looking shots from Ian Bell threatened Middlesex briefly, but when he gifted Shah a simple slip catch, Warwickshire found themselves 67-4. Jim Troughton (who?) and Tony Frost managed to see their side to lunch without further alarm, although Frost only managed one run in an innings that must have lasted around half an hour.

After lunch, Troughton continued to pose a threat to Middlesex, but it didn't last long as Ashley Noffke took an amazing return catch after making up a lot of ground and diving to clutch the ball over half way down the wicket. The inevitable partnership then developed as Frost and Brown played some wonderful strokes to put on an all-time record stand for Warwickshire, against Middlesex, of 209. Frost also hit a superb straight 6 into the sightscreen at the Waterfall road end as Middlesex tried 8 bowlers to break the stand. Eventually, it was the new ball that did the trick as both fell within successive overs, giving Ashley Noffke figures of 3-53 off 23 impressive overs. Middlesex also missed the chance to take the 8th wicket as Ashley Giles was dropped by a diving Andrew Strauss at point and although the catch was a difficult one, it could prove vital.

Other entertainment today included the teatime match which saw Sorry (Ben) get thrashed by Middlesex (Myself and Kev). Sorry only managed a handful of runs as Ben was out hit wicket to Kev, who then proceeded to stroke the ball for four after four after four, as Ben had no answer to the onslaught.


SCORES:

WARWICKSHIRE 1ST INNINGS: (WARWICKSHIRE WON THE TOSS)

Powell b Hutton 8
Knight b Keegan 11
Wagh c Joyce b Noffke 0
Bell c Shah b Abdul Razzaq 31
Troughton (who?) c and b Noffke 37
Frost c Nash b Noffke 84
Brown b Keegan 113
Giles c Abdul Razzaq b Keegan 96
Smith c Weekes b Hutton 30
Betts c Nash b Weekes 38
Richardson not out 9

Extras 29

Total (all out, 144.4 overs) 496


MIDDLESEX 1ST INNINGS:

Strauss c Troughton (who?) b Giles 37
Koenig c Powell b Richardson 35
Dalrymple lbw b Brown 0
Shah b Richardson 31
Hutton c Frost b Smith 38
Joyce b Giles 29
Abdul Razzaq c Betts b Giles 0
Weekes lbw b Giles 10
Nash not out 44
Noffke c Knight b Richardson 7
Keegan c Wagh b Richardson 0

Extras 29

Total (all out, 89.1 overs) 260


MIDDLESEX 2ND INNINGS:

Strauss c Wagh b Betts 23
Koenig b Giles 96
Dalrymple c Brown b Betts 0
Hutton not out 102
Joyce not out 22

Extras 38

Total (for 3 wickets, 80 overs) 281

Did not bat: Shah, Abdul Razzaq, Weekes, Nash, Noffke, Keegan.


RESULT: MATCH DRAWN

POINTS: MIDDLESEX 8, WARWICKSHIRE 12

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