PATEL STARS BEFORE SOMERSET HIT BACK IN RELEGATION SCRAP

MIDDLESEX stumbled to 18 for three at the close yesterday in pursuit of the 250 they need against Somerset to secure first division survival. Somerset had earlier been dismissed for 236 at Taunton — left-arm spinner Ravi Patel claiming seven for 81 — in a match the hosts must win to have any chance of staying up. Elsewhere, Yorkshire took three bowling points at Essex to clinch safety. No play was possible at Edgbaston, where Hampshire need eight points to escape.