County Championship: Ryan Higgins century boosts Middlesex survival hopes at Nottinghamshire

Middlesex were 241-6 but Ryan Higgins helped them push on for three potentially precious batting points

Relegation-battling Middlesex gave themselves a chance of victory against Nottinghamshire after all-rounder Ryan Higgins became only their second player to make a County Championship century this season.

Higgins held Middlesex's first innings together with 137 - his first hundred for the county - as he shared partnerships of 61 with Stevie Eskinazi (58) and 108 with Jayant Yadav (56).

Their total of 366 gave them three potentially precious batting bonus points, more than doubling their tally for the season, before Nottinghamshire responded with 92-2, of which Ben Slater has 49 not out.

But Kent, who began the final round of Division One matches one point in front of Middlesex in the battle to avoid relegation, are all but certain to at least match those three batting points against Lancashire in Canterbury, having already secured three for bowling.

That means that unless Kent lose, Middlesex will have to win to have a chance of staying up.

Nottinghamshire bowler Brett Hutton finished with 5-94, taking him to 60 wickets for the season.

He picked up a wicket with his fourth ball of the day to break the overnight partnership between Higgins and John Simpson, the latter falling lbw for 26.

The dismissal brought immediate confirmation that Eskinazi was fine after his blow to the head that had forced his retirement on day one.

Eskinazi emerged to resume an innings interrupted on 23 and he and Higgins put on 61 runs for the fifth wicket before Dane Paterson pinned Eskinazi in front for 58.

The best ball of a testing second spell by Hutton accounted for Joshua de Caires via a thin edge to wicketkeeper Tom Moores, leaving Middlesex in danger at 241-6.

But Higgins found an ally who could stick with him in Yadav, who had been out in single figures in the first four innings of his short-term deal but this time played beautifully for his 56 as the pair put on a vital 108.

The Indian off-spinner timed his drives and cuts perfectly, throwing in a couple of meaty pulls among his eight boundaries, lightening the burden of responsibility on Higgins.

Higgins reached lunch on 99 and returned keen not to linger on that nervous mark. He unsuccessfully tried for a single off each of the first five balls of Paterson's first over of the afternoon before beating the infield with a push that carried all the way to the boundary at wide mid-on.

He joined Sam Robson as the only Middlesex batters to post hundreds in 2023.

The sixth over with the second new ball ended the partnership when Yadav was lbw to Jake Ball.

The downfall of Higgins came two overs later with a misjudgement, an attempt to scamper a single into the offside off Ball, who stopped the ball with his boot, causing Higgins to hesitate mid-pitch and not quite recommit to the run. It was long enough for Ball to stoop, gather and throw down the stumps at the bowler's end with the batter still not home.

In between, Toby Roland-Jones had been struck in front by Hutton, who wrapped things up by having Bamber caught at second slip to complete his sixth five-wicket haul of an outstanding season.

With ball in hand, Bamber dismissed Haseeb Hameed via a thin edge to Simpson and Steven Mullaney courtesy of a tight leg before call inside his first five overs,

But Slater and Joe Clarke added 57 for the third wicket, despite Slater suffering what looked like a painful blow on the hip.

Report supplied by ECB Reporters' Network.