Yorkshire hold on as Middlesex push for victory

Vitality County Championship Division Two, Lord's (second day)Yorkshire 159 & 216-7: Hill 52*, Coad 38*, Root 32; Higgins 3-41, Roland-Jones 3-54Middlesex 246: de Caires 50, Stoneman 42; Thompson 5-80, Coad 4-59Middlesex 3pts, Yorkshire 3pts Match Scorecard

Medium pacer Higgins, who picked up four wickets in the first innings, dismissed Finlay Bean and Brook either side of tea at Lord's and Toby Roland-Jones ousted Joe Root as Yorkshire collapsed to 83-5 seconds.

But George Hill led a White Rose fightback in the evening session with a patient unbeaten 52 to take them to 216-7 at stumps, giving them a lead of 129.

Earlier, Jordan Thompson's five-wicket haul and an impressive spell from Ben Coad, who took 4- 59, had brought Yorkshire back into the game as Middlesex posted 246, which featured half-centuries from Leus du Plooy and Josh de Caires.

Du Plooy reached his half-century off 43 balls but fell victim to Coad, who produced a superb delivery which cut back to remove his stump before also trapping Jack Davies' leg before to cross.

That left Middlesex 136-7 and a first inning lead that looked like a formality was very threatened.

However, Roland-Jones led the Middlesex counterattack by sending Mickey Edwards for a series of limits, De Caires following the example of his captain while the two men shared a position of 56.

Roland-Jones' knock of 30 ended when he gifted Thompson a return while De Caires posted the second red-ball half-century of his career before being dismissed by Coad.< /p>

This left Yorkshire trailing by 93 and they had reduced it by just 13. when Roland -Jones r...