Gritty Middlesex rescue draw with Notts
Middlesex 181 & 300-7 drew with Nottinghamshire 298 & 401-8 dec
Middlesex 8 pts, Nottinghamshire 10 pts
Half-centuries from Nick Compton and Adam Voges and a stoic effort from the lower-order helped Middlesex salvage a draw at Lord’s.
Compton (85) and Nick Gubbins (37) batted right up until lunch, adding 75 more runs as the hosts frustrated the Nottinghamshire bowlers.
Harry Gurney took two wickets in two balls during the afternoon and when he bowled Voges, who had made a counter-attacking 72, after tea, the momentum seemed to be with Notts.
But James Harris (36 not out) and Tim Murtagh (18 not out) batted out the last 18 overs of the day to ensure Middlesex avoided defeat.
Resuming on 57-1, Gubbins and Compton repelled the Notts attack during the morning session to eat up a large chunk of the time needed for the visitors to take eight wickets, with the injured Dawid Malan unlikely to bat.
Compton marked his second Middlesex debut with a 50 but Gubbins fell in the final over before lunch, caught at short-leg off Samit Patel.
Compton and Voges, two of the club’s marquee signings, added 42 before the one-time England opener clipped Gurney to slip.
The next ball, Gurney accounted for Paul Stirling and although John Simpson survived the hat-trick ball, Notts were very much back in the hunt.
Voges though responded by hitting a half-century off just 66 balls, including eight fours, and it took the arrival of the second new ball to break a partnership worth 57.
Simpson was the man to go, bowled by Jake Ball for a watchful 11, and when Gurney cleaned up Voges for 72, with 24 overs still to bowl, Middlesex looked vulnerable.
Tom Helm was trapped lbw to leave Notts needing two wickets in the last 70 minutes of play but Harris and Murtagh (pictured) kept the bowlers at bay and secured the draw.
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