Durham left-arm spinner Callum Parkinson admitted a key partnership was required after he and Ben Raine added 90 for the 10th wicket to help push Durham beyond 250 and rescue their innings.
Before the pair made their way to the crease, Durham’s top order had struggled to build a significant total and were under pressure from Middlesex at 162/8.
Raine played some impressive shots as he pushed Durham beyond 200 before tea, with the partnership passing 50 as the duo continued to frustrate Middlesex’s bowling attack.
Raine then reached his half-century for the third time this season, providing his side with a much-needed boost. However, Naavya Sharma eventually broke the partnership, trapping Parkinson LBW, as Durham were bowled out for 252.
“Obviously, we needed it; we were in a spot of bother. I’ve been fortunate to bat quite a bit with Rainey (Ben Raine) this season, and we dovetail quite well,” Parkinson said.
“It’s really important in the context of the game, but I still think we left a few runs out there.”
With promotion on the horizon for Durham, Parkinson was quick to stress that his side are not getting distracted, with plenty of work still to do.
“We’re not trying to look too far ahead; we need to just keep doing good things like we have been doing all season.”
“We’re lucky we’ve put ourselves in this position where we’ve got a little bit of grace, a bit of a window, so we’ve got to keep backing it up, hour-on-hour, session-on-session.”
After an impressive 6/20 spell against Northamptonshire, Parkinson understands that he will play more of a holding role in Durham’s bowling attack as the game progresses.
“I see spin’s role as trying to get some useful runs and a containing job, which is often the case here, but you never know.
“Hopefully there’ll be some foot holes to hit as the game goes on. I think it’ll be dominated by seam for the first couple of days.”
Durham managed to take two wickets in the evening session, with Brydon Carse dismissing Luke Hollman and Sam Robson to leave the visitors on 70/2.
However, Durham will be disappointed with some missed opportunities, and Parkinson is hopeful his side can bounce back on Thursday morning.
“We didn’t bowl as well as we know we can this evening, so if we can hit our straps in the morning, a couple of early wickets, then hopefully that will set us on our way to a good day.”