YORKSHIRE were held up in their pursuit of a third successive County Championship title as Middlesex's batsmen held firm at Lord's.
The White Rose county must win if they are to defend the crown they won in both 2014 and 2015 but first-innings centurion Nick Gubbins (93) and Dawid Malan (99no) defied them for almost the whole of the morning session.
They took the home side – who also have to win to take the title away from current leaders Somerset – to 201-3 at lunch, a lead of 81 runs.
Andrew Gale juggled his bowlers throughout the session but Gubbins and Malan offered no chances as they both went through to battling half-centuries after resuming on 81-2.
The pair put on 198 for the third wicket before Gubbins chipped straight back to Azeem Rafiq on the verge of lunch to fall seven short of a second hundred in the match.
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