Middlesex seamer James Harris is looking to wrap up Yorkshire’s innings quickly on day three of their Specsavers County Championship match at Headingley.

Having seen the first day washed out, the defending champions reduced their hosts to 116-4, before Yorkshire recovered to reach 317-7.

Harris, Tim Murtagh, Steven Finn and James Franklin all had success with the ball, but it might have been a better day for Middlesex.

Harris said: It was an interesting day. There was a lot of balls which were edged and dropped short. A few flew through from the bottom end (Football Stand). We are pretty happy with the way we’ve bowled all in all.

“You’d always like the team to get less than 300 when you stick them, but all in all I don’t think we’ve had a bad day from a bowling point of view. There was a bit in the pitch all day. There’s plenty there for the bowlers, and we hope to have a good day with the bat.”

Harris bowled six successive maidens at one stage during the day as he sent down 22 overs in total and added: “It was a nice way to start and come back into the team. It’s something we talk about, trying to bowl a lot of maidens.

“I did it once before in a second-team game a few years ago, but I got 2-for in that. It was nice that they weren’t just floaty and in the channel. I got a few plays and misses in there.”

Jack Leaning (85) and Andy Hodd (51) put on 114 for the fifth Yorkshire wicket to frustrate Middlesex, before Tim Bresnan and Liam Plunkett added an unbroken 47 before bad light stopped play.

Leaning said: “To get over 300 on a day when the pitch has been under cover for the last 24 hours and there was a bit of drizzle around, it’s a really productive day for us.

“We’ve put a lot of hard work into our batting over the whole season, but even more so in the last few weeks we’ve had off. Luckily it’s paid off in the middle. Hopefully we can go and get a decent score.

“There’s certainly enough in the pitch to keep you honest. It’s slightly on the slow side, but there’s plenty in it for the bowlers.

“Hopefully there’s sun in the morning and the clouds roll in when we have a bowl at them. I’m pleased with how I played on the whole.”