After defeat at The Oval, Middlesex moved north to Edgbaston for their next Championship game, and as usual, Middlesex lost the toss and found themselves batting, with Chris Wright and Keith Barker bearing down on them, but the outfield was fast and the bowling of the table toppers was wild and Sam Robson had smashed his way to a run a ball 28 before he lost Chris Rogers for 6, well caught at first slip by Rikki Clarke (playing with a side strain). Joe Denly smashed a four, then went for a horrific wild waft outside off stump to be caught behind by Tim Ambrose off Wright for 4, 46-2. Dawid Malan decided that being caught behind looked like fun, and was out for one in Wright's next over. 48-3 and it was looking like more of the same, but Neil Dexter (on his birthday) and Robson found some batting form, albeit with a large slice of luck.
Boundaries flew quickly, quite often off the edge over the slips (bringing that rarely seen third man into play), with Darren Maddy's first two overs going for 23 and Boyd Rankin failing to stem the flow as the 50 partnership came up in the 21st over and the 100 in the next. Robson departed before lunch, having past 50 from 62 balls, edged Rankin to Ambrose for 60 from 73, 121-4. Adam Rossington improved on his duck at the Oval by aiding Dexter (52 ball 50) in causing more heartache for the bowlers with more flashing drives over the slips and solid swing all round the wicket, showing how easy batting was once the new ball was gone. 3 consecutive fours by Dexter off Wright brought up the 50 partnership, and after 40 overs of the innings Middlesex had reached 200-4, better than some of their CB40 scores. Ian Blackwell was making his debut for Warwickshire, on loan from Durham, and he provided the control from the Birmingham End, with Rossington caught by Varun Chopra for his career high 29, 216-5. Gareth Berg then chipped to Will Porterfield at cover for 8, Blackwell's 2nd at 229. Steve Crook relaxed Dexter's 90s nerves by swing Wtight for 4 and then 6 over midwicket to raise the 250, before Dexter completed a 126 ball 100, his first in over a year and one that saved Middlesex from embarrassment. Crook fell to Blackwell just for tea for 27, and the innings finished soon after, Rankin having Dexter LBW for 101 and Toby Roland-Jones caught by Clarke for 0. A brief last wicket flurry took the score to 287, Ian Blackwell snaring Ravi Patel on debut to finished with 4-46.
Chopra and Ian Westwood saw out the 5.1 overs before bad light stopped play, 21-0.
