THE anticipated afternoon of toil duly materialised as Durham again took only one wicket in the session and Middlesex reached 220 for two at tea.
Having never previously looked like scoring many against Durham, Sam Robson is still there on 118 and has dug in again since completing his century off 161 balls.
The man out was Nick Compton, who reached 50 with the last of a series of back-foot fours through the covers off Usman Arshad.
Without addition he tried to pull a ball which wasn't short enough in Scott Borthwick's second over and was bowled.
John Hastings put in a valiant spell in the search for a wicket after lunch, but there was little sign of a breakthrough and Arshad and Paul Coughlin both strayed in length too often.
Paul Collingwood brought himself on and, bowling to a tight field, conceded only one run in his first seven overs. It did, however, allow Adam Voges to settle in and the Australian was on 27 at tea.
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