Middlesex graft to earn draw against Durham

Rothesay County Championship, Division Two, Lord's (day four)

Middlesex 430: Higgins 131; Raine 5-58 & 146-4: Holden 77*; Raine 3-23

Durham 567: Bedingham 147, Gay 129, Aldridge 99; Higgins 4-117

Durham (6 pts) drew with Middlesex (3 pts)

Match scorecard

A resolute half-century by Max Holden, his second of the match, prevented Durham's third consecutive County Championship Division Two victory as Middlesex battled to secure a draw at Lord's.

Holden finished unbeaten on 77, sharing a key partnership of 82 with Ben Geddes (26) for the fourth wicket after the home side, 137 in arrears on the first innings, had slumped to 53-3.

Matthew Potts and Callum Parkinson's stand of 71 – a Durham record for the ninth wicket against Middlesex – enabled the visitors to post 567 in their first innings before seamer Ben Raine followed up his earlier five-wicket haul with 3-23.

But Holden did enough to haul Middlesex towards safety before the contest was curtailed by bad light, ensuring the draw which was nevertheless enough to propel Durham to the top of the Division Two table.

Durham's first-innings advantage stood at exactly 100 when play resumed in the morning and Potts (38) and Parkinson (28) embarked on a spirited half-hour thrash to stretch that by another 37 before the visitors were bowled out.

Parkinson threw the bat, picking up a trio of leg-side boundaries off Sebastian Morgan before he attempted to scamper a bye and Joe Cracknell's quick reaction throw left Potts short of his ground.

Two balls later, Cracknell gathered a top-edged swing from Parkinson to wrap up the innings and give Middlesex a potentially tricky 88 overs to survive, with the floodlights on in gloomy overhead conditions.

Their task was made more difficult by the early departures of both openers, with Raine's outswinger taking the edge of Sam Robson's bat before Potts got a ball to climb viciously on Josh de Caires, who could only fend it through to Ollie Robinson.

Holden and captain Leus du Plooy dug in, but Raine inflicted a further blow on the hosts prior to lunch, switching to the Pavilion End and going around the wicket to have the skipper caught behind for 15.