Middlesex vs Durham Day Four report- Potts and Raine strike but Holden defies Durham

Holden finished unbeaten on 77, sharing a key partnership of 82 with Ben Geddes (26) for the fourth wicket after the home side, 137 in arrears on the first innings, had slumped to 53 for three. 

Matthew Potts and Callum Parkinson’s stand of 71 – a Durham record for the ninth wicket against Middlesex – enabled the visitors to post 567 in their first innings before seamer Ben Raine followed up his earlier five-wicket haul with figures of three for 23. 

But Holden did enough to haul Middlesex towards safety before the contest was curtailed by bad light, ensuring the draw which was nevertheless enough to propel Durham to the top of the Division Two table.

Durham skipper Alex Lees said: “I think there was a small moment today when we felt we had the chance to manufacture a win, but with the pace of play over the four days and the wicket, it was always going to be hard to force a result. 

“I think that in itself, the way they prepared the pitch, is a compliment to us as a team and how we play our cricket at the moment. 

“Ultimately our bowling and batting across these four days was top-class, with Bedders (David Bedingham) and Emilio (Gay) getting back-to-back hundreds, then other contributions from Kasey (Aldridge) and Ben Raine pushed us up to that decent lead. 

“Since the start of the season, we’re all delighted with the cricket we’re playing. We need to keep focusing on our stuff and move forward and take it into the T20. 

“Ben Stokes comes in for us (in the next game), which is obviously a big boost, particularly with the timing of Kemar (Roach) going down injured and others in the second team getting injured as well.”