COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION TWO, Uxbridge:
CLOSE OF PLAY, DAY TWO: Sussex 452, Middlesex 127-2
Middlesex 3pts, Sussex 5pts
Match scorecard

Simpson scored nine boundaries in his unbeaten 58

John Simpson scored an unbeaten half-century as Middlesex battled to 127-2 in a rain-affected day's play against Sussex at Uxbridge.

The visitors trail by 325 runs with eight first-innings wickets left and needing quick runs on Friday.

Earlier, Sussex had added to their overnight total of 413-9, with Luke Wright falling last on 134.

In reply, Simpson (58 no) and Owais Shah (38) guided Middlesex past 100 but Shah fell just before the close.

Heavy rain in the morning and afternoon meant only 45.3 overs were played during the day. However, when play finally got under way at 1330 BST, Wright continued in the vein he left off the previous evening, scoring quick, powerful runs.

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With the assistance of Sussex last man Colleymore, Wright added 78 runs for the last wicket before the England man finally perished to a catch off the bowling of Steve Finn.

Middlesex's reply began poorly with Andrew Strauss's patchy county form continuing - the England captain was dismissed lbw by former West Indies paceman Corey Colleymore for just eight.

However, the visitors then rallied well as Simpson and Shah put on 84 in 24 overs, although Simpson was fortunate to survive some excellent new-ball bowling by debutant Lewis Hatchett and Colleymore.

Monty Panesar impressed with a tight, wicketless spell, but it was Wright who broke the partnership, sending Shah back to the pavilion, as the batsman clipped an attempted pull shot to wicket-keeper Matt Prior just before the rain took them off for the rest of the day.

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