Middlesex put squeeze on Warwickshire

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Close, day three: Warwickshire 342 & 58-2 lead Middlesex 260 by 140 runs

A patient 74 from Nick Compton and some tight bowling gave Middlesex a chance of salvaging a draw after the third day at Lord’s.

Compton, who faced 140 balls in a three and a half hour knock, shared crucial stands with Eoin Morgan (44) and Neil Dexter (47 not out).

But his hard work was almost undone by a collapse which saw Middlesex lose four wickets for 14 runs, leaving them 206-8.

However, a stand of 47 between Dexter and Toby Roland-Jones (32) helped haul Middlesex to a total of 260.

That still gave Warwickshire a seemingly healthy first-innings lead of 82, but they made heavy going of adding to it by scoring only 33 in 17 overs.

Crucially, Middlesex also took two wickets with Roland-Jones having Ateeq Javid caught and James Harris bowling debutant Jonathon Webb.

Opener Varun Chopra (31 not out) and former England batsman Jonathan Trott (12 not out) remain at the crease but they will need to release the shackles if they want to set Middlesex a target.

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