Patel shines but Lancashire stay alive

Close, day three: Middlesex 446 & 129-2, Lancashire 448

Middlesex 6pts, Lancashire 4pts

Ravi Patel signed a new contract with Middlesex before taking three further wickets as Lancashire ended their first inning reply two runs ahead.

Patel was due to return to Loughborough University in October but instead has taken Middlesex up on their offer of a new full-time deal for two years. Tom Smith and Nick Gubbins have also signed two-year deals with the club.

If Patel’s performance on day three was anything to go by, both he and Middlesex look to have made the right decision.

The 21-year-old off-spinner took the wickets of Kyle Hogg, Glen Chapple and Ajmal Shahzad in an excellent spell after lunch.

However, by the time Patel struck with his first wicket, relegation-threatened Lancashire had turned 236-3 overnight into 375-6 after Karl Brown and Gareth Cross made up for the early losses of Ashwell Prince (71) and Steven Croft (3) to Toby Roland-Jones.

Brown and Cross formed a superb 77-run partnership, with Brown going on to just about see out the innings as the final wicket and reaching 78.

Cross also delivered a half-century before he too was taken just before the interval.

After Patel showed the door to Hogg (10), Chapple (29) and Shahzad (10) and Brown’s wicket from Gareth Berg ended the reply with a two-run lead, Middlesex made 129 from the second innings over a session and a half.

Captain Chris Rogers saw out the day with an unbeaten 57 but Sam Robson and Joe Denly, who has also agreed a new two-year deal, fell before close but Dawid Malan remained 38 not out with Rogers at stumps.

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