County Championship: Middlesex forced to follow on by Glamorgan

Resuming on 334-7 under thick cloud, Glamorgan managed a third batting point as Andy Gorvin ran three boundaries down to third man before being bowled by Ryan Higgins for 17.

Middlesex missed out on the third bowling point but Dane Paterson switched ends to trap Chris Cooke lbw for a solid 47, and Higgins claimed his fifth when James Harris was lbw for 12.

Sam Robson fell for six, caught at slip off Timm van der Gugten in the tricky pre-lunch session and Middlesex’s fortunes were not helped by a 90-minute rain delay after the lunch interval.

Luke Hollman was bowled for 11, driving loosely at James Harris, but Max Holden looked in decent nick, driving fluently on a pitch where seam-friendly conditions were against it.

Holden gave it away on 42, edging a Gorvin delivery to Kiran Carlson at slip which he did not need to play, and bowling hero Higgins was pinned lbw first ball.

Australian left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann, making a one-off appearance, tempted Leus du Plooy (17) into trying to hit him straight into the Taff, with the ball skying to cover where Tom Bevan took a well-judged catch.

Glamorgan continued to chip away as Ben Geddes, who had defended well, survived a slip chance off Timm van der Gugten before slashing James Harris hard to Carlson on 18.

Davies played three nice square drives off Kuhnemann before falling on 22 to a brilliant catch by Bevan as he tried to smash Zain Ul Hassan through mid-wicket, and the follow-on figure of 234 looked a distance away at 121-7 with the light unexpectedly holding up.

Gorvin induced Toby Roland-Jones to drive hard to Asa Tribe at cover, Naavya Sharma hit three fours before edging Gorvin to Carlson for his third catch, and a brief counter-attack from Zafar Gohar for 25 was finished when he provided Marnus Labuschagne with a slip catch.

Four overs should have been left to bowl, but another brief rain flurry saw Glamorgan denied the chance to cause further damage.