´óÏó´«Ã½

Division Two leaders Nottinghamshire tightened their grip on their County Championship match against Middlesex, posting their highest total at Trent Bridge for seven years as Lyndon James made a career-best 155.

The 23-year-old all-rounder turned his overnight 90 into a first century on home soil, going well past his previous best of 108 before miscuing a ball from Middlesex's young leg-spinner Luke Hollman to backward point, as Nottinghamshire racked up 551 before declaring at eight down.

After a rocky start saw them slip to 37-3 inside 10 overs, Mark Stoneman (67) and Max Holden (24 not out) looked to have built a platform for a Middlesex fightback by adding 69 in 24 overs, but Stoneman fell for 67 just before close to leave the visitors 106 for four, still 445 runs behind.

Hollman finished with 4-122 as the most successful Middlesex bowler, although only Toby Roland-Jones was able to find any measure of control.

The pace of the cricket made up for the loss of the first session to rain as Nottinghamshire resumed on 378-4.

The home side suffered a setback in the first over of the day as captain Steven Mullaney, having been struck in the groin by Tim Murtagh, recovered only to misjudge a ball angled in by Murtagh that bowled him with no stroke offered.

James, a tall, elegant right-hander who has come through the Nottinghamshire age groups, moved into three figures with a beautifully-executed off drive and new partner Tom Moores looked equally pleasing on the eye with four boundaries in a couple of overs as Nottinghamshire completed the full set of batting bonus points.

Moores came and went quickly in the event, wafting at one outside off stump to give Murtagh a second wicket in his opening spell. Middlesex would have to wait 20 overs for another breakthrough, during which James and Liam Patterson-White added 91 before the former, dropped at second slip on 78 on the first evening, went down the pitch to Hollman and paid the price for an uncontrolled stroke.

James, who had gone to 150 with a lovely paddle for four followed by a pull for six off Hollman, finished with 19 fours and a six, with Middlesex's change seamers Toby Helm and Martin Andersson again leaking more boundaries than they would have liked.

Patterson-White and James Pattinson added another 53 in eight overs - the Australian quick twice clearing the rope off Hollman.

A four crashed through the off side as he made room to swing at Helm had taken Patterson-White to his first half-century of the season but, when he holed out to long off in the next over, Mullaney decided he had enough.

Nottinghamshire's total was their highest on this ground since they scored 600 against Warwickshire in 2015.

Report supplied by the ECB Reporters' Network.