Middlesex ended day three of their County Championship match at Grace Road on 82-3, 299 runs adrift with only seven wickets remaining.
After bowling their hosts out for 186, requiring a challenging victory target of 381, faint hopes of an improbable victory vanished after Max Holden was removed facing his third ball for a duck after tea by the fiery Ben Raine, nicking to wicketkeeper Lewis Hill, with the score at 0-1.
Sam Robson was the second Middlesex wicket to fall making the score 51-2 after Gavin Griffiths trapped lbw for 31 off 53 balls as the former England Test opener attempted to play himself back into form in a bid to save the game.
It wasn’t to be, as the visitors subsided to 79-3, after Dawid Malan edged behind to Hill from the impressive Raine for only 12 as nightwatchmen Ravi Patel saw out the final few balls as Middlesex ended the day with only the prospect of a heavy defeat at some stage on Saturday to come.
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