Dippenaar and Ackerman lead the fightback at Southgate

Middlesex 493-7d (Strauss 150, Hughes 139, Morgan 114*, White 3-94, Harris 3-105) lead Leics 258 (New 66, Cobb 60) and 177-2 (f/o, Dippenaar 85*, Ackerman 45*, New 43) by 58 runs.

Leicestershire are battling incredibly hard to avoid defeat in the Championship game against Middlesex.

The team closed on 177-2 in their second innings, with Boeta Dippenaar (85*), HD Ackerman (45*) and Tom New (43) leading the way.

Although County still trail by 58 runs, the team have reacted extremely positively despite being forced to follow-on.

After being bowled out for 258 in their first innings, the team were struggling when Matthew Boyce fell early in the second knock.

However, Dippenaar and New shared 79 for the second wicket after Boyce was trapped lbw by Tim Murtagh.

Then, Dippenaar shared a further unbroken 96 with Ackerman to guide the side through to the close.

New had picked up where he left off in the first knock, striking a number of deliveries to the boundary.

In total, the opener made 43 from 67 balls with six fours, but fell to Shaun Udal for the second time in the game to give the hosts a precious breakthrough.

Dippenaar carried on the good work though, timing the ball well during a half-century from 79 balls with nine fours.

His partnership with Ackerman has been crucial, with both intent on patient accumulation, and that was just what County needed from their senior batsmen.

The pair batted through the whole of the evening session and saw off the bowling with care, also latching on to anything loose.

Middlesex tried everything to unsettle the duo. England skipper Andrew Strauss even sent down the last over of the day in an attempt to unsettle the batsman, but it was to no avail.

Dippenaar’s runs spanned 177 deliveries with 12 fours, while Ackerman stroked four fours in his unbeaten 98-ball stay at the crease.

Earlier in the day, County needed a defiant start after resuming in bother on 161-5 and Josh Cobb and James Taylor provided it.

In the opening session, the young guns saw out the first hour, extending their partnership to 57.

Cobb made his second first-class half-century of the season along the way, and scored the majority of the runs in the stand with his England under-19 colleague.

He moved to a stylish 60 from 101 balls with seven fours before being removed.

Cobb was caught by Steven Finn from the bowling of Alan Richardson – a role reversal from Paul Nixon’s dismissal yesterday.

A second wicket of the morning fell shortly afterwards, as Taylor, who had grafted so hard for nine from 69 balls, fell to the medium-pace of Neil Dexter.

The batsman had been extremely patient, but was caught behind by sub-keeper David Nash, who was deputising for Ben Scott.

Wayne White and Carl Crowe shared a 29-run stand to take County towards a second bonus point, but the latter was trapped lbw by Dawid Malan right on the stroke of lunch.

After the interval, Malan caught Iain O’Brien off his own bowling before Murtagh bowled White to end his spirited resistance for 32, by which time 250 had been passed.

It left County with lots of work to do, and there still is plenty to do at stumps on day three – but the team have started their match-saving task well.