WORCESTERSHIRE'S Stephen Moore and Graeme Hick resisted the efforts of the Middlesex bowling attack as they looked to force a Frizzell County Championship victory at Lord's.

On a day decimated by rain, the pair stubbornly batted through the 36.3 overs that were possible to forge an unbroken stand of 164 to steer their team to 170 for one. It left the visitors still some 338 runs behind Middlesex's first-innings score of 508, their highest of the season.

Both batsmen completed half-centuries during the morning session and when play was eventually abandoned, both Moore and Hick were unbeaten on 73 and 77 respectively.

After lunch only 15 balls were possible, but in that time Worcestershire had scored 22 runs, hitting five boundaries before the rain and bad light came to ruin any chance of any further play.

When play resumed today, Hick needed only 23 more runs to complete his fourth century of the season and was just 51 runs short of achieving 37,000 first-class runs in his career.