Middlesex’s Robbie White admitted it had been a frustrating second day for them in their County Championship Division Two contest at Northamptonshire on Monday.

Dismissed for 187 in reply to the home side’s first innings 346, they were made to follow on and closed on 32-1, still 127 runs behind.

White top scored for Middlesex in their first innings with 35, sharing a 69-run stand with Max Holden (30) after the visitors had slumped to 79-5.

But Nick Gubbins was dismissed before the close to leave the 2016 county champions with a fight on their hands to avoid defeat at Wantage Road.

White said: “It did quite a lot yesterday (Sunday) as well and we portably let them off the hook and got quite a few more than par.

“We’ve been fighting from behind and we’re a bit light with the bat as well.

“We got off to a great start and had a wobble, but getting together with Max was good to knuckle down but it was frustrating to do the hard work and then couldn’t quite get past the follow-on.”