County Championship: Middlesex dominate Glamorgan with Holden ton

Resuming at 63-0, Middlesex lost Steve Eskinazi for 39, driving Van der Gugten to a diving Ben Kellaway at point as the Dutch international bowled four consecutive maidens and Ned Leonard also started tightly.

The attritional cricket continued as Max Holden dug in alongside Nathan Fernandes, who reached a solid and patient 50 off 102 balls before falling on the stroke of lunch edging Van der Gugten to slip for 58.

Only 55 runs came in the first session with the tempo changing afterwards as Holden got after England spinner Shoaib Bashir, swatting him leg-side for six and four before a lucky edge between keeper and slip.

Remarkably Bashir, in his third and final loan match, has only now matched his 15 Tests, taking 49 wickets, with 15 first-class appearances outside Tests.

Holden dominated the century stand with Du Plooy in the afternoon session, adding to his 184 against Lancashire at HQ, as Middlesex powered ahead with just two wickets down.

But Holden’s intelligent innings, including 16 fours and a six off 198 balls, came to an end when Zain Ul Hassan took a fine low catch on the cover boundary to add to his economical bowling performance.

Ryan Higgins quickly followed him, caught behind down leg-side off the deserving Leonard.

But Middlesex’s fifth wicket partnership of Du Plooy and Geddes concentrated on consolidating their team’s advantage rather than racking up bonus points, settling for just two from their batting effort at 330-4 after 110 overs.

Geddes reached his half-century just before the close, but Middlesex will need to bat into the third day even though poor weather is possible on Monday.