Alviro Petersen roared back into form with a superb 191 to put Lancashire in a commanding position in their county match against Middlesex at Lord’s.

Fresh off an unbeaten 68 in a T20 match on Friday, Petersen, aged 35 and in his last year of his contract, looked good for another double-hundred, but he fell nine runs short to a frustrating caught-and-bowled to Toby Roland-Jones.

He had moved on effortlessly from 105 overnight to 191 off 285 balls, anchoring a stand of 97 with Haseeb Hameed (89) and then totally dominating a partnership of 128 with Steven Croft, who scored 46 off 111 balls. With a more pro-active Liam Livingstone, (58 off 58) he added 103 for the sixth wicket.

The net result was Lancashire piling up 513, to which Middlesex had replied with 146-1 at the close of the second day.

Elsewhere, Johann Myburgh had a good day, reaching his 15th first-class hundred off 161 balls (17×4) and putting on 167 with James Hildreth (152) as Somerset reached 474-8 declared in reply to Hampshire’s 219.

Ryan McLaren, who had done such a good job in saving Hampshire from the drop last season, fought the good fight by taking five for 104. He had contributed a solid, unbeaten 24 to Hampshire’s total as they tried to stop the rot but for him, the war looks over.

Dale Steyn again has risen to the occasion in the Natwest Blast, taking 2-20 in four overs as Glamorgan smashed Surrey by nine wickets. He helped hold Surrey to a mere 110, and Jacques Rudolph (40 off 43) and Colin Ingram (73 off 49; 7×4, 3×6) finished the job.