TIM BRESNAN is ready for the final fight of the County Championship season after playing a major role in keeping Yorkshire’s hopes of a third successive title alive.

The England all-rounder batted for over seven-and-a-half hours in making an unbeaten 142 as the Tykes picked up the bonus points they required in making 390 in their first innings.

Ryan Sidebottom and Jack Brooks then took a wicket apiece to leave the home side on 81-2 at the close – trailing by 39.

With Somerset having beaten Nottinghamshire at Taunton, both teams on show at Lord’s know that victory here will secure them the title, meaning both sides will be looking to force a result on day four.

And Bresnan believes the onus is on Middlesex – rather than the defending champions – to make the running.

“In terms of context, it’s massive. We needed someone to do that and luckily enough it was me,” he said of his innings.

“It’s a bit weird. It’s like when you’re fighting – we’re just eyeing each other up seeing who is going to land the first punch. The game is drifting for a little spell but that’s only because we’ve bowled so well and they felt really threatened.

“If they had come in four down then we would have the game by the scruff of the neck. As it stands it’s pretty even. We need to bowl well tomorrow and they need to play really well to set up a chase.

“It will be a patience game. It will be the first team to go searching for it. You have to play the situation and see what’s happening.

“You need to be proactive rather than reactive when they start swinging because they are going to have to.”

Yorkshire began the day on 235-6, and Azeem Rafiq survived two dropped chances to move through to a 78-ball half-century as he and Bresnan added 114 for the seventh wicket.

He was first put down by Nick Compton at fly-slip after looking to divert a short Steven Finn delivery over the cordon before being spilled by Ollie Rayner at second slip off the bowling of James Franklin.

Rafiq eventually fell for 65 after being bowled through the gate by Tim Murtagh, but not before Bresnan brought up his own hundred with a drive through mid-wicket for three.

Steven Patterson and Brooks then fell either side of the lunch interval, leaving Bresnan and Sidebottom to score the final 16 runs needed to reach 350 and ensure Yorkshire did not bow out of the title race early.

They were able to tick off the first 15 of those runs with few alarms, but the tension was ramped up on 349-9 as first Toby Roland-Jones had a huge LBW appeal on Sidebottom rightly waved away by umpire Rob Bailey before a heavy rain shower brought about a delay of over an hour.

Upon the resumption Sidebottom finally got his side over the line by flicking Roland-Jones to the long-leg boundary before both he and Bresnan looked to open up.

Sidebottom eventually fell for 23, with Bresnan not out having faced 293 balls and hit 12 fours and a six.

Sidebottom then had Sam Robson caught by Alex Lees at third slip and Brooks bowled Compton to leave the hosts 2-2, but Nick Gubbins and Dawid Malan held firm to see Middlesex through to stumps.