County Championship: Evans helps Bears progress at Lord's

Warwickshire's Laurie Evans parted just two short of a century at Lord's, having become Steven Finn's fourth victim

Warwickshire's Laurie Evans narrowly missed out on a first ton of the summer at Lord's but the Bears still batted themselves into a useful position on another rain-hit day against Middlesex.

After Jonathan Trott added just one to his overnight score before being caught behind for 45, Evans went on to hit 98.

From 253-7, the Bears then rallied again as Jeetan Patel (37) and Keith Barker (37) put on 72 in 15 overs.

Bowled out for 342, the Bears then had Middlesex 39-1 at the early close.

On a day when bad light and rain cut the action to just 67.3 overs, Middlesex were only into the 13th over when bad weather closed in again to prevent any more play after the final stoppage of a chilly and blustery day.

Resuming on 148-3, Trott's early loss to a beauty from the lively Toby Roland-Jones was a blow, but Evans held firm until being bowled attempting an over-ambitious drive after Steven Finn had taken the second new ball.

Patel and Barker then launched four sixes between them off-spinner Ollie Rayner, who finished off the innings by bowling Boyd Rankin.

Chris Wright then struck an early blow for the visitors by removing Joe Burns, but Sam Robson was sitting nicely on 25 when bad light called an early halt at just after 17:00 BST.

Warwickshire batsman Laurie Evans told BBC Sport:

"It was a shame I couldn't get those two extra runs to complete a hundred, especially as this is the first four-day match I have played at Lord's. But, to be honest, I could have got out at any stage and so to score 98 is good.

"We were looking at around 250 as a good total in the conditions, so to get almost 350 is over-achieving a bit on that pitch. It is still quite tricky to score runs on.

"It was a great effort by everyone to get the total we did. It's a scrap-type of pitch and there is still enough in it for the bowlers. We need to keep the ball up to the bat tomorrow."