LEG-SPIN aces Mark Lawson and Adil Rashid fired out Middlesex for 224 on a sensational day at Scarborough yesterday which left Yorkshire needing to make 275 to win the Championship relegation duel.

They closed the third day on 39 without loss off 23 overs and it will come as a big anti-climax if the predicted bad weather today causes the match to end in a draw to the benefit of neither side.

Never before have a pair of Yorkshire leg-spinners scythed their way through an entire innings and it was Lawson who emerged with the better figures of 6-88 while Rashid claimed 4-96.

Rashid took six wickets on his Yorkshire debut at Scarborough in July and this was Lawson's second six-wicket haul of the season. This is his 12th Championship game for Yorkshire and he has now picked up five wickets or more on four occasions.

Both spinners got excessive turn as the cloudy conditions gave way to warm sunshine. The only batsman to master them was Middlesex captain Ben Hutton, grandson of Sir Leonard, and son of Richard who was watching as the left-handed opener scored a courageous 105 from 166 balls with ten fours and two sixes.

Yorkshire's first innings lasted for a further 72 minutes before the last wicket went down at 326 to give Middlesex a useful first innings lead of 50.

Opener Joe Sayers resumed on 102 and although the last five wickets went down for the addition of 53 runs, the left-hander survived to make a faultless career-best 122 from 308 balls with16 boundaries in almost seven hours of tenacious batting.

Sayers became the 13th opener in Yorkshire's history to carry his bat through a completed innings in a first-class match.

But while Sayers was continuing his vigil, former Yorkshire paceman Chris Silverwood created havoc with the second new ball by picking up four wickets in 32 deliveries for only 20 runs.

Silverwood's final figures of 5-63 meant that in three Championship innings against Yorkshire this season he has picked up 13-127, perhaps leaving his native county to regret agreeing to continue paying part of his wages when he was released from his contract to join Middlesex.

Silverwood has now captured 57 first-class wickets for Middlesex this summer and he needs only a further three wickets for his best season.

Middlesex were handicapped by back injuries to two of their paceman, Scott Styris and Chad Keegan, neither of whom bowled yesterday.