Clearing up the tail of the Warwickshire first innings proved somewhat tricky, as Keith Barker and Chris Wright carefully brought up the 300 before cutting loose, Toby Roland-Jones went for five fours in 8 balls, before Barker edged to Adam Rossington (diving to his right) off Tim Murtagh for 23, 328-9. Wright then tried to slam Murtagh into Birmingham, only to have is off stump removed for 13, 333 all out, a lead of 46.
Middlesex needed a better start than they had in the 1st innings, but Sam Robson was caught behind by Tim Ambrose from Wright's 2nd ball for 1. Joe Denly (15) hit 3 fours before compounding his difficult 2nd half of the season, edging to second slip where Rikki Clarke caught the ball well high above his head, 25-2. Then the runs began to come, thanks to Chris Rogers and Dawid Malan, two of the more consistent run scorers, putting on their first large partnership of the season. Middlesex regained the lead in the 11th over and eased past 50 as they reached 68-2 at lunch.
Rogers brought up the 100 with a top edged six that just carried over third man's desperate leap before Malan's sixth four brought up his 75-ball 50. The 100 partnership was raised and then Rogers went to 50 as well, from 86 balls. The runs continued to flow as the pair batted excellently against one of the best bowling attacks in the country, the high amount of no balls being bowled didn't help the home side as the pair advanced until Rogers reached his hundred from 143 balls in the 50th over, in the process passing 18000 first class runs. He fell soon after, trying to launch Boyd Rankin over point, only to edge to Varun Chopra at first slip for 109, breaking a partnership of 203. Warwickshire then fought back, Dexter (2) caught by Will Porterfield at gully off Rankin, 238-4. Malan went to his hundred next over from 158 balls and he and Rossington brought up the 200 lead before Rossington fell for 2, pulling Rankin to Darren Maddy at square leg, 252-5.
Then came the partnership that took the game away from Warwickshire, as Malan and Gareth Berg smashed the ball all round the ground adding 99 in the final 18 overs of the day, Berg racing to a 62 ball 50 as Middlesex closed 351-5, Berg 53 and Malan 138 not out, a lead of 305.
