Lancashire’s seamers hit back either side of a long rain break to help their side take a 32-run lead on first innings in their Rothesay County Championship match against Middlesex at Emirates Old Trafford.

But in a dramatic last hour of play, Ryan Higgins took three prime wickets in ten balls for Middlesex to reduce the home side to 45 for three at the close, giving Lancashire a lead of 77 and leaving the game evenly poised.

Replying to Lancashire’s 203, the visitors were dismissed for 169 despite skipper Leus du Plooy making a fine 67. James Anderson again led took the bowling honours with four for 67 but George Balderson took three for 19 before turning his attention to opening the batting.

In the morning session, Lancashire made their first breakthrough with the seventh ball of the day. After Ben Geddes had taken a single off the opening over, Anderson struck with his first delivery when the makeshift opener’s attempted push into the leg side only popped up a return catch off the leading edge, which the bowler ran forward athletically to take.

But the dismissal of Geddes for 12 brought in Caleb Falconer to play his maiden first-class innings and the 19-year-old got off the mark when he edged his second delivery from Anderson to the third man boundary. And although he made only 11 runs off 20 balls, Falconer did not look out of place during his 24 minutes in the middle. But the debutant’s innings when he was lbw to Tom Bailey and that wicket ushered in an eventful eight overs during which Higgins made 32 off 30 balls and put on 44 with du Plooy.

Higgins cut Balderson first ball of the day through gully for four and pulled his next delivery for six before an attempt to whack another maximum only skied a steepling catch to mid-on which Anderson judged superbly. That left Middlesex on 108 for five and they had scored eight more runs when torrential rain arrived. Du Plooy was unbeaten on 39 and could comfort himself that he had played one of the shots of the season at Old Trafford when he drove Mitch Stanley over cover point for six.

Even after the rain stopped, the groundstaff’s mopping-up operations were halted by the possibility of thunder and lightning. Further rain delayed the restart until 4.00 when there were 38 overs left to be bowled, although the umpires decreed that these should be bridged by a tea interval at 5.15.

On the resumption, Middlesex lost their last five wickets for 53 runs and their last three on 169. Harry Duke, who has been brought in on a two-week loan to cover for Joe Cracknell and is immediately substituting for him in this match, was caught behind off Anderson for three and Gohar fell to Tom Bailey for four in the next over.

Du Plooy and Seb Morgan then put on 45 for the eighth wicket and during the course of that stand, the Middlesex skipper hit three fours off successive balls from Anderson, thereby reaching his fifty off 69 balls. However, when du Plooy was caught at slip by Michael Jones off Balderson for 67, Lancashire took the last two wickets in the space of six balls to earn their side with a significant 32-run lead in what is likely to be a low-scoring game.

In their second innings, Lancashire’s openers proceeded without much trouble to 39 without loss before Higgins struck by having Balderson caught behind by Duke for 15, Keaton Jennings caught at second slip by Sam Robson for 18 and Josh Bohannon also snaffled by Robson for just two when he chose to flash at his fourth ball.