Middlesex batsman Nick Gubbins looked at the positives, despite being dismissed for 99 on day one of their County Championship Division Two match with Gloucestershire at Lord’s on Friday.

Gubbins hit 18 boundaries in more than three hours at the crease and shared stands of 77 and 88 with Sam Robson (36) and Stevie Eskinazi (31), before falling to Daniel Worrall one short of a century.

Dawid Malan and Eoin Morgan both made 76 in a 132-run partnership for the fourth wicket as Middlesex closed on 356-6 and Gubbins, being touted for an England recall, said: “It is a funny game. People come up to you and say unlucky, but I would have taken 99 at the start of the day and more importantly me and Sam Robson got us off to a good start.

“Overall as a batting unit it is a great day and one we should be proud of.

“England isn’t getting into my thinking at the moment. For me it is all about scoring runs at the top of the order for Middlesex.

“I’ve missed the start of the season through injury and the end of last as well so it is just really nice to be back playing.”

Having scored a century in Middlesex’s three-wicket defeat at Sussex a week earlier, Gubbins was pleased to get another chance of more time in the middle as he took his tally to 313 in four innings.

And he is hoping the home side – missing Tim Murtagh and Paul Stirling due to Ireland’s historic Test match against Pakistan – can put pressure on the visitors.

He added: “We were very surprised they stuck us in. We were preparing for a toss and praying we’d win it because we wanted to bat.

“The wicket has a bit of up and down in it. There are a few cracks there too and with our big fast quartet we hope with some scoreboard pressure as well to make some inroads into Gloucestershire.”