Gubbins builds on bowlers’ work to steady Middlesex
Lancashire 513: Petersen 191; Rayner 4-120, Roland-Jones 4-122
Middlesex 146-1: Gubbins 71*, Eskinazi 43*; Parkinson 1-36
Close, day two: Middlesex trail Lancashire by 367 runs
Nick Gubbins scored his fifth Championship half-century of the season to guide Middlesex through a tricky evening session after Lancashire had racked up the runs on day two at Lord’s.
The visitors pushed on from their overnight score of 298-3 and were eventually bowled out for 513, with Alviro Petersen falling just short of a double century.
Toby Roland-Jones removed both Petersen and Liam Livingstone (58) as he took three wickets in eight balls, while Ollie Rayner cleaned up the tail with Lancashire looking to push on.[phone][/phone]
Rayner had taken two wickets in the morning, including with his first ball of the day as Steven Croft (46) paid the price for an ambitious reverse sweep and top-edged to wicket-keeper John Simpson.
Petersen continued to impressing, passing 150 before lunch and adding 103 for the sixth wicket with the brisk Livingstone.
His run-a-ball 58 included 10 boundaries but he sacrificed himself for the cause of moving the game on, lofting Toby Roland-Jones to long-off and James Fuller taking the second of two smart catches.
In Roland-Jones’ next over, Petersen dispatched him for six but was out the following ball, offering a return catch to the bowler off a leading edge, an anti-climactic end to a near five-hour vigil.
Middlesex almost prevented Lancashire from reaching 500, as Roland-Jones and Rayner chipped away at the tail, but a last-wicket stand of 15 got them past that milestone.
Knowing taking 20 wickets would be hard on a docile pitch, Lancashire had scored 109 off 18 overs in the afternoon session, but Middlesex survived a testing 45-minute spell before tea.
Gubbins and Sam Robson took their opening stand to 59 before spinner Matt Parkinson had the latter caught at slip in his second over.
The in-form Gubbins, averaging 42 in the Championship this season and proud owner of a maiden first-class ton in last month’s game with Somerset, moved on serenely to 71 by stumps.
He was joined by Stevie Eskinazi, playing only his second first-class match, and he cruised past his previous best of 22, although Middlesex still require 217 more to avoid the follow-on.
