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Yorkshire 235 for 6 (Bresnan 72*, Hodd 64) trail Middlesex 270 (Gubbins 125, Brooks 6-65) by 35 runsScorecardHe may have scored two Test centuries and played a part in England series victories in India and South Africa but, around these parts at least, Nick Compton is in danger of being remembered as the man who dropped the 2016 Specsavers County Championship.Had Compton, in the slips, held on to the relatively straightforward chance offered by Andy Hodd on 22 off Steven Finn, Yorkshire would have been 87 for 5 and in danger of seeing their relatively long tail exposed. One of the runners in this three-horse race may well have fallen away.Instead, the chance went down and Hodd, in partnership with the wonderfully resolute Tim Bresnan, added 116 for Yorkshires fifth wicket to keep their side in the game. The extent of the dent put into Middlesexs Championship aspirations remains to be seen but it may well be that Compton has inadvertently done his former club, Somerset, a huge favour. A future in He should have gone to Specsavers adverts is unlikely to provide much consolation.Such a reputation would be harsh, of course. Compton played crucial roles in two recent victories against Durham and Nottinghamshire and may yet have a defining contribution to make here. But when title races become as tight as this - and this one is beautifully, breathlessly tight - the importance of such moments is magnified.The concern for both these teams is that their excellence - and this has been a terrific game of tough, high-quality cricket albeit one marked by some significant dropped catches - is in danger of cancelling each other out. While Somerset do battle with a foe currently boasting the resilience of a butterfly, these two teams are bashing each other into a double knockout.For victory alone is unlikely to be enough for Yorkshire. With Somerset seemingly on course for victory at Taunton, Yorkshire need to not only win but win with a minimum of four batting bonus points. They therefore have to score 350 (or more) within the first 110 overs of their first innings here. With 115 more runs required from 41 more overs and three bowlers with modest batting pretensions to come, much remains required of the two batsmen who will resume in the morning.That Yorkshire remain in the race at all is largely due to Bresnan. Having bowled with skill and persistence to help squeeze the life out of the Middlesex batting, he then produced his highest score of the campaign - and his fifth half-century - to take his side within sight of first-innings parity.Its hard to imagine Bresnan pulling out of a game like this due to weariness or lack of focus. Indeed, you imagine he may well report for duty with an arm hanging by a thread or nursing a nasty attack of the bubonic plague. While there were some murmurs ahead of the game that he was a little high at No. 5 in the batting line-up, he justified his promotion with a mature innings featuring much patient defence and some fine shot selection.Six of his seven fours came on the off-side - a couple of meaty drives, a couple of beefy cuts and a well-judged reverse sweep the most memorable of them - with one laced through midwicket. Reflecting the improvement in his batting, he took his career average above 30 for the first time during the course of this innings and, if he makes the 100 his side probably requires, it will stay there.He came to the crease with the three batsmen above him in the order having failed to contribute a run. Toby Roland-Jones, comfortably the pick of the Middlesex seamers, had defeated Alex Lees with a full ball and drawn edges from hard-handed prods by Gary Ballance and Andrew Gale. By the time the previously fluent Adam Lyth played on in Steven Finns first over, perhaps slightly surprised by the pace of a fuller delivery, Yorkshire were 53 for 4 and in danger of seeing their challenge fall away.Had Compton been able to cling on to the chance offered by Hodd - instead he seemed to go at it with hard hands - Middlesex may have taken an unassailable advantage in this match. But, as the sun came out and the ball softened, so batting started to look a little easier and the teams go into day three with the game all but even.Hodd played Ollie Rayner especially well. Refusing to let him settle, he scored at almost a run-a-ball off him, hitting him off his line with reverse sweeps and punishing him if he dropped short. Even after he departed, beaten by a full one from Roland-Jones that he tried to force, Rayner was unable to gain much purchase from the dry-looking square and was twice thrashed for sixes - one drive, one pulled - by David Willey. Though Willey also departed before the close, Azeem Rafiq gave Bresnan good support to keep Yorkshires hopes just about alive. Still, 350 looks some way distant.We just tried to take the game situation - and the table situation - out of it, Bresnan said. We tried to focus on little goals: ten runs at a time. They bowled really well at us for a little spell and made it really tough for us. But cricket is about little battles and we managed to overcome that challenge and kick on.With the clientele weve got in dressing room we never say never. Weve managed to win from some unbelievable positions this season and if we can get up to 350 well be in a good position. Weve got 40-odd overs left to get 350, which should be plenty of time. Well just take it in tens.Yorkshires bowlers were little short of magnificent in the morning session. While Jack Brooks, as accurate and whole-hearted as ever, finished with career-best figures of 6 for 65, he would be the first to admit he was the beneficiary of a sustained performance by all five seamers that never allowed Middlesex to score at even 2.5 an over. It was relentless in the way Test bowlers tend to be relentless: building pressure; forcing batsmen to earn every run. Even with little help from the pitch or the overhead conditions, they were so disciplined that Middlesex were never able to get away from them. Yorkshire arent giving up on their status as champions without a hell of a fight.Eventually that pressure showed. Nick Gubbins, perhaps mindful of Middlesexs sluggish run-rate and keen to gain at least a third batting bonus point, was drawn into a loose drive that ended his fine innings, before James Franklin edged a good one that demanded a stroke. Unsure whether to go for a third batting point or deny Yorkshire a third bowling point, Middlesex blocked for a while only to then give it away when Tim Murtagh slogged to mid-off with just 20 balls left before the cut-off. It may yet prove to be crucial. In all, Middlesex were able to add only 62 runs for the loss of five wickets in 26.3 overs in the morning session. Without Gubbins century - and the dropped catch that allowed him a life on 22 - they would have had no answer to Yorkshires fine attack.Were in a dogfight, but were hanging in there, Brooks said. We didnt let them get away and were still in there fighting. Bressy has worked his way up from eight to five with his batting and hes probably been our best bowler in this game as well after coming in as fifth seamer. It shows what a world-class bowler he is.The equation for Middlesex is, at least, simple. If they win this match, the Championship is theirs. The winning bit is far from guaranteed, though.Its nicely poised, Roland-Jones said in understated fashion afterwards. Were trying to treat it as if its any other game when its obviously an experience you want to be part of and its quite high pressure.You try not to pay too much attention [to what has been happening at Taunton], but of course you see it there. Our attitude coming into the game was to win it. If you come into the last game and dangle the carrot that if you win it you win the Championship, you take that. Its not a bad place to be.It will probably be no consolation to any of the sides that fall short - and truly, all three deserve better than disappointment - but the quality and intensity of this encounter reflects wonderfully well on English cricket. Perhaps familiarity has invited a certain complacency (if not contempt) to Englands first-class competition but if we still value developing Test players we will tinker no further with this great competition. The 9000 or so spectators who have attended over the first two days know this already; its a shame not all those inhabiting the ECB offices just beside the Nursery Ground share their enthusiasm. Hydro Flask Sale Near Me . Ferrer, trying to win his fourth title on Mexican soil, will next play South Africas Kevin Anderson, who eliminated American Sam Querrey,7-6 (2), 6-4. Also Wednesday, Gilles Simon (6) of France beat Donald Young of the United States 6-4, 6-3, Ukraines Alexandr Dolgopolov downed Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-4 and Croatias Ivo Karlovic defeated Dudi Sela of Israel 7-6 (4), 6-2. Hydro Flask Water Bottle Wholesale . But by the time the game started, the Toronto Raptors forward felt even worse. And, for three quarters, it showed as Gay shot a woeful three-for-13 from the field. http://www.hydroflasksalenearme.com/hydro-flask-with-straw-deals-online.html . Catch all the action on TSN2 at 11pm et/8pm pt. The nine-time Big 12 champion Jayhawks are positioning themselves for another title, as they have run out to a flawless 6-0 mark in conference play thus far. Hydro Flask Outlet . Ivanovic was leading 7-5, 1-0 when Hantuchova withdrew after falling 0-40 behind in the second game. The match started slowly for Ivanovic, who surrendered her first two serves as Hantuchova took a 5-3 lead. Hydro Flask With Straw Near Me . -- Stanford squashed Oregons national championship hopes again, schooling the Ducks in power football. What went down in the 11th week of college soccer? The aim each week is to bring you five stories that defined the week in college soccer or help navigate the long road to San Jose and the Womens College Cup. For most of the country, that meant transitioning this week from the regular season to conference tournaments.Seventeen seconds and the best performance of the weekIf you dont know Kelsey Johnson you are really, truly missing out.So began Central Arkansas teammate Jessica Pantusos attempt to explain why the story of the week didnt involve the ACC, Pac-12 or any of the other conferences most likely to fill the field in the College Cup. It only indirectly involved Central Arkansas taking another step toward giving itself the chance to play on those same NCAA tournament fields, the Sugar Bears wrapping up the Southland Conference regular-season title in unbeaten fashion against Northwestern State this past Friday.Johnson started the game for Central Arkansas but came off after just 17 seconds, long before Alex Moores goal put the team ahead or Ashley Smith doubled the lead. But those 17 seconds came after nine months of waiting. Nine months of hoping she would get that chance to play, even as she confronted a reality that made a game inconsequential by comparison. Diagnosed with a benign brain tumor this past winter after suffering lingering headaches following a minor car accident, Johnson had surgery to remove it in May.She hoped all along that she would return to the field for her senior season but was unable to gain medical clearance while undergoing post-surgery radiation treatment, even as she continued with her classes and as a part of the soccer team from the sideline. Until Fridays home finale, that is. Still not fully cleared, she played anyway.I get doubts in my mind and obviously everyones going to think of the worst-case scenario every once in a while, Johnson told Littles Rocks KATV in April. But I have a great feeling Im going to get out there again.No one in the month ahead will get more joy out of being on a field than Johnson did.West Virginia closes out regular season in styleDont even bother trick or treating at Dick Dlesk Stadium in Morgantown. If the current residents havent given away a goal in months, what are your odds of getting free candy off them? Not satisfied with just dominating the Big 12, No. 1 West Virginia completed a shutout of the league with a 3-0 win over Oklahoma State this past Friday. Eight conference games, 12 hours of soccer and not a single goal scored against the Mountaineers by a Big 12 opponent.Like any successful defense, some of that is about not having to defend -- the Mountaineers outshot the Cowgirls 26-4. But a lot of it is also just that Kadeisha Buchanan and the rest of the defensive core are just better than everybody else.The Mountaineers face Texas Tech in a Big 12 tournament quarterfinal Wednesday in Kansas City, with the potential for a semifinal against No 24 Oklahoma after that.Florida States not-so-secret weapon returnsEliminating No. 6 Duke in an ACC quarterfinal penalty shootout, a week after beating the Blue Devils at home, enhances Florida States resume. To a small degree that is because of the result itself, officially a draw, but mostly because it presents a needed opportunity to earn more resume points against No. 14 Clemson in Fridays ACC semifinal in Charleston, South Carolina.Now 4-1-2 this season against teams ranked in the most recent RPI top 550, there still appears to be a path for the Seminoles, No.dddddddddddd 16 in that RPI release, to swoop in and claim a valuable top-eight seed in the NCAA tournament if they run the table in Charleston. (As there is for No. 16 North Carolina, which had its best week of the season by beating Florida State to close the regular season on Thursday and routing No. 7 Virginia 3-0 in a weekend ACC quarterfinal).No matter where they play their games, the Seminoles will be better for freshman Deyna Castellanos being there rather than in Jordan. Thats where she spent most of October, leading Venezuela to the semifinals of the FIFA Under-17 Womens World Cup (a longer stay than the American entry enjoyed). Castellanos scored five times in the World Cup, tied for the second-most in the event. Factor in her production at Florida State and it adds up to 11 goals in 15 games this fall. The most recent of those was a screamer from 20 yards that tied Sundays game, her first appearance since returning. She was a threat the entire game.USC survives a slip in race for No. 1 seedGeography alone makes a Pac-12 weekend swing through Utah and Colorado a challenge. It is compounded this season by the fact that the Utes and Buffaloes are good teams headed to the NCAA tournament. So No. 4 USC coming out of Thursdays game at (not for much longer) unranked Utah with a 1-1 draw after a potential winner was waved off for offside promised to be only as big a deal as its response warranted.It turns out it wasnt a very big deal.USC kept a firm grip on a 3-0 win at Colorado on Sunday, the first time all season the Buffaloes allowed more than one goal in regulation at home. Alex Anthony scored two opportunistic goals, Savannah Levin scored on a well-executed corner kick and one of the best defenses this side of West Virginia looked the part.That matters because Stanford, South Carolina and West Virginia (in the order ranked in the most recent RPI) have the top three seeds in the NCAA tournament almost locked down. It is the fourth of the top seeds, which come with the chance to host through the quarterfinals, that looks like it is up for grabs.One candidate, BYU, cant do much to help its cause in the final week of the regular season. That leaves USC with one huge opportunity Friday against UCLA, which suffered far more on the road in losses at both Utah and Colorado.Missouri and Florida poised for an SEC sequelTurn on the SEC Network this week (shameless plug), and there is a good chance you will see soccer, all nine games from the SEC tournament on either that network or ESPNU. While the team to see remains No. 2 South Carolina, which closed an unbeaten regular season and swept the conference awards for coach, offensive player and defensive player of the year, the game with the most long-term consequence may be a quarterfinal between Florida and Missouri. Mostly thats because the Tigers couldnt solve the Gators in a 1-0 loss this past week.Had that result gone the other way, Floridas hopes for a top-eight seed in the NCAA tournament would have taken a hit and Missouri would have solidified its case for an at-large bid to the big tournament. Instead, we get to do it all over again with the same stakes. It will feature SEC freshman of the year Sarah Luebbert putting her 10 goals for Missouri up against Savannah Jordans 13 goals. ' ' '