YORKSHIRE were made to rue a series of missed chances in the field as they looked to secure a third straight County Championship title against Middlesex at Lord’s.

Knowing only a win would keep them in with a chance of defending the crown they won in both 2014 and 2015, the White Rose county picked up early wickets before being frustrated by a century from opener Nick Gubbins.

The left hander finished the day unbeaten on 120, but was one of three batsmen to be dropped during after Azeem Rafiq spilled a relatively straightforward chance at point with the former Leeds/Bradford Universities batsman having made just 22.

And first-team coach Jason Gillespie admitted his disappointment at those spurned opportunities, though reserved special praise for his six-man bowling attack.

“I thought we bowled really well all day,” he said. “It would be nice to take chances when they come but I thought our bowlers did really well.

“You just have to look at the run-rate. We’ll bowl worse than that and be rewarded better, but at the end of the day you have to take the chances when they come. Three chances were there that we should have taken.

“I can’t fault the lads. They work really hard at their fielding and their catching, but it’s not ideal on a day like today and you put them in then you shell chances.”

Andrew Gale opted against having a toss and chose to field first under grey skies in north London, and Jack Brooks brought about early rewards with his new ball spell.

England internationals Sam Robson and Nick Compton were both adjudged lbw, with the latter offering no shot to a straight delivery.

David Willey replaced Brooks at the Nursery End, and though he went for 15 from his first over, he was able to find the outside edge of Dawid Malan’s bat, only for Adam Lyth to shell the catch at second slip.

Fortunately for the Tykes that mattered little as Malan (22) could only add three more runs before being bowled by Willey via an inside edge as he looked to drive extravagantly.

Steve Eskinazi could only muster 12 before he became Brooks’s third victim after chopping onto his own stumps, but Gubbins shared in a stand of 57 for the fifth wicket with John Simpson to settle the Middlesex ship.

Their partnership was broken when Simpson (15) shouldered arms to Tim Bresnan and was trapped leg before, and the same bowler should have reduced the hosts to 160-6 after forcing an edge from James Franklin, only for Gary Ballance to let the ball burst from his grasp at third slip.

That allowed Franklin to join Gubbins in seeing the Division One leaders through to the close, with the latter bringing up his hundred with a six off Ryan Sidebottom.

Yorkshire will return today looking for four more wickets inside 28 overs in a bid to take maximum bowling bonus points after bad light ended proceedings 14 overs early.