At the end of a day marked not by a frenetic run-chase but by the sort of determined batting specifically designed to prevent such dramas, the players shook hands on the draw at 4.21pm at Old Trafford
With one heroic blow, Lancashire's captain Glen Chapple took their relegation fight against Middlesex into a final day
Like mariners clinging to wreckage in the hope of eventual rescue, Lancashire's cricketers hoped to confound the logic of experience on the second day of this game
The first day of this match was dominated by points yet tinged with poignancy. One of these big battalions will be playing their four-day cricket in Division Two next season and this game is therefore something of a shootout
