LV= County Championship Division One, day three:

Middlesex 488-9 dec & 30-1, Northants 384

Middlesex 7pts, Northants 5pts

Steven Crook frustrated his former Middlesex team-mates as his maiden first-class century helped Northants avoid the follow-on at Lord's yesterday.

With Middlesex having declared on 488-9, Northants resumed day three on 89-3, with debutant James Kettleborough, who is also a former Middlesex Academy player, adding 31 to his overnight score before falling for 73.

Northants slipped to 168-6 before a stunning 131 off 124 balls by Crook helped them to 384 all out, trailing by 104, Steve Finn taking 4-110.

Middlesex then extended their lead to 134 runs as they closed on 30-1 in their second innings, captain Chris Rogers the man out for 18 when he holed out to Kettleborough off Maurice Chambers.

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Crook said: "I have got close to scoring a hundred a few times before, but it was pretty special to do it finally at Lord's. Every time you come here it's special.

"You walk through the Long Room and reflect on everything that has happened here in cricket's history.

"To do it against my former Middlesex team-mates was also special. They were quite nice to me, actually, although Steven Finn did try to bounce me a few times"