Warwickshire wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose claimed five dismissals during Middlesex's first innings. Picture David Davies/PA Wire

LV= County Championship Day 2: Warwickshire 178-2 trail Middlesex (402) by 226 runs

Ian Westwood and Jim Troughton both scored half centuries as Warwickshire looked to match Middlesex’s 402.

Dawid Malan, who scored 105 on the first day, wanted the tail enders to drag the north Londoners up to 370-380 and he got his wish and more, thanks to Steven Crook and Tim Murtagh’s excellent partnership of 72.

The last pair dragged their side over the 400 mark as Chris Woakes and Chris Wright grabbed four wickets in the innings apiece.

After Murtagh bagged two quick wickets, Westwood and Troughton combined to post a 150 partnership to leave Warwickshire on 178-2, 226 runs behind.

Middlesex resumed their innings on 324-7 and added only three runs before Ollie Rayner edged Woakes behind to Tim Ambrose from the 19th ball of the morning.

Toby Roland-Jones was joined by Stephen Crook and the former looked to be positive with the innings coming to a close.

But he gave Woakes his fourth wicket when he edged him behind to Ambrose – giving the stumper his fifth dismissal of the innings.

Tim Murtagh, celebrating his 31st birthday, was the last man and he was able to watch Crook produce some wonderful shots to take the home side close to 350.

The number 11 joined in and took them to within one run of that extra point before Wright deployed some chin music in an attempt to rattle him.

But he put one onto Murtagh’s legs and the fourth batting point was assured.

The number 11 relaxed after that and dispatched Woakes to the boundary twice in his over.

But at 11.57am the rain came down and forced the players to retreat to the safety of the pavilion.

They returned at 12.34pm and Murtagh hit a four to take his side past the 370 mark, with two overs lost in the day.

The 50 partnership was brought up as Murtagh smashed Boyd Rankin for four over cover and then slogged the Irishman for another four.

Rankin’s day got worse when he dropped Crook at mid-on when the number 10 batsman was on 16 leaving him with figures of 0-89 from 15 overs.

The last pair brought up the 400 as Crook smashed another boundary to deep midwicket.

They fell just short of the 10th wicket record, set by Jack Durston and Walter Robins in 1925, but with one run remaining Crook skied Wright to Darren Maddy to fall for 30.

That wicket brought about the lunch break and Varun Chopra along with Ian Westwood.

Murtagh grabbed the first wicket after a tight opening three overs – the man to go was Chopra, adjudged LBW for three.

William Porterfield was the new man in and he was circumspect as Murtagh, Roland-Jones and Berg charged in.

But the Irishman departed for 12, caught, brilliantly, by Neil Dexter at short midwicket to leave Warwickshire 26-2 in the 13th over.

Jim Troughton was given a life when he was dropped at second slip by Ollie Rayner with him on two.

The drop started to look costly as Troughton moved into the 20s and Warwickshire were just shy of 100 as they went off for tea.

The rain came after tea and delayed the restart by 20 minutes as the players came on and off on two occasions.

But that didn’t trouble the visitors as Westwood and Troughton picked off the bad balls as well.

And the former brought up his 50 off 130 balls with seven fours and he looked as if he wanted to keep on going.

But he was hit on the helmet by Roland-Jones and was then dropped by Rayner but was able to stay out there through this tough period.

The bowlers were causing problems and Troughton was hit on the hand by Roland-Jones.

The batsman brought up his 50 with successive fours off Roland-Jones and Rayner would be kicking himself for giving the in-form batsman a life.

With overs ticking down the pair decided to take it easy and they went in at 178-2 with Troughton on 60 and Westwood on 89.