Day 3

A vital century for Owais Shah and an unbeaten 59 from David Nash led Middlesex out of difficulty today as they declared on 253/8, having been struggling on 98/6 earlier in the day. Gloucestershire now have a first-innings lead of 106 but with only one day left, a draw seems almost certain.

The third day started just as the second had finished, with the loss of valuable Middlesex wickets. First nightwatchman Paul Hutchison edged behind to the wicketkeeper, then Paul Weekes and Jamie Dalrymple both found themselves back in the pavilion minutes later with the total on a worrying 98/6. Bonus points looked extremely unlikely, and worse still, there was a definite threat of the follow-on. However, Owais Shah and David Nash proceeded to save the day, and most probably the game, with a brilliant partnership which took Middlesex to 234/6 when bad weather halted play shortly before tea. Sadly, Shah was dismissed as soon as play resumed, and when a second batting point had been secured, captain Ben Hutton declared the innings on 253/8, still 94 runs adrift of the Gloucs total. Gloucs finished the day on 12/0 in their second innings.

Day 2

Middlesex are facing a tough task after a dissapointing day when they struggled to finish of the Gloucetershire tail, and limped to 66/3 at close. Despite a 5 wicket haul for Ajit Agarkar, Middx let the visitors go from 268/8 to 347 all out.

In reply Middlesex lost vital wickets and struggled to make runs. Hutton and Compton went early without troubling the scores which Koenig was run out for 36. Owais Shah was left in with the night watchman Paul Hutchinson with Middlesex trailling by 281.

Day 1

Indian seamer Ajit Agarkar halted Gloucs in their tracks today with three important middle order wickets, reducing the visitors from 107-1 to 133-4 at stumps on a rain-affected day at Lords.

After Ben Hutton won the toss and put Gloucs in to bat, Simon Cook removed Craig Spearman early in the innings before he could repeat his match-winning triple century from the last championship meeting of these teams. However, Phil Weston and Mike Hussey added 79 for the second wicket before Ajit Agarkar struck late in the day to remove Hussey, following this with two more quick wickets to ensure that Middlesex had the upper hand by the time rain stopped play.

Please click here for a scorecard on this match.

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