After two days of rain, the third day of Middlesex vs Worcestershire began with Middlesex 148-2 after only 40 overs play.
Joe Denly and Chris Rogers resumed in gloomy damp conditions and it wasn't long before David Lucas had Rogers caught behind by Ben Scott for 9. Dawid Malan then fell to Alan Richardson, tearing in from the Nursery End, for a duck and when Neil Dexter left one first ball that annihilated his off stump, Middlesex had slumped to 172-5.
There then followed a long rain delay and at 2:45 with the question being, how long would Middlesex bat for in a now likely draw. Denly passed fifty (94 balls) and John Simpson provided able support as the 200 came up before Richardson took his fourth, finding the edge of Simpson's bat on 14. Gareth Berg joined Denly, and they denied Richardson his fifth and took the score past 250. Both batsmen were a bit lucky as Moeen Ali missed a couple of half-chances at mid-wicket.
Denly then reached his first Middlesex hundred with his 17th boundary, cracking Richard Jones to the long on boundary. A great innings given the poor batting by some of his team mates. Richardson would not be stopped, however, and Berg edged behind for 36 with the score 298-7 for his fifth wicket. Tim Murtagh and Denly then decided to play some shots and get a move on towards the declaration. In three overs they added 29, with Denly swinging Richardson into the Grand Stand for 6 and lashing a couple more fours to finish 134 not out. Murtagh being 8 off 11. 327-7 represented a great total after the morning collapse and Richardson's 5-89 giving the visitors a chance.
Daryl Mitchell and Michael Klinger came out to bat in what was looking like a draw and although generally awful weather was to cut short the day there was still time for action. Klinger edged Murtagh to Strauss who spilled a fairly easy catch. Mitchell wasn't so lucky and after almost heading a Steve Finn bouncer for leg byes, he flicked Murtagh to Dexter at mid-wicket fall for 14. Toby Roland-Jones then had Klinger off what was eventually the last ball of the day, caught by Sam Robson for 17, Worcestershire finishing 45-2, still 133 off avoiding the follow on, which may prove tricky for their batsmen.
