Middlesex captain Dawid Malan was left bitterly disappointed by his side’s seven-wicket defeat against Lancashire.

The home side were dismissed for 200 in their second innings at Lord’s, after the visitors had made 427 in reply to their first innings total of 265.

And that left Lancashire with a small target of 39 to chase on Sunday, which they managed despite losing three quick wickets.

Malan said: “I wouldn’t say there was a lack of fight. It was just the whole way we played the last four days has been pretty poor.

“For a team with the players that we have, we haven’t been able to put it together with the bat or the ball yet which has been extremely frustrating.

“Maybe this is the wake-up call that we needed this early in the year because you can talk about reputations, what we have and what people have done, but to go out and do it is a different thing.

“We have obviously got guys who are coming back and who haven’t played a lot of cricket over the last year and a half and batsman who haven’t performed as well as they have over the last year or so.

“So, it is for us as a team to start putting those things together, those puzzles together and showing a bit more fight from day one, not just when our backs are against the wall.

“But it is too early in the season for pointing fingers, shouting and screaming. We as individuals know where we are lacking and we as a team know where we are lacking.”