Oxford Universities' batsmen dropped anchor on the second day of the match against Middlesex in the Parks yesterday.

Resuming at 32 without loss in reply to the county's 269, the Universities struggled to 191 all out.

Jamie Dalrymple, who is registered with Middlesex, produced the best batting of the innings, before he was caught at the wicket.

None of the remaining batsmen showed any aggression until the arrival of Tom Hicks whose breezy 23 pushed the run rate to two an over for the first time. MIDDLESEX

First Innings 269 (B Hutton 133, T Mees 6-64)

Second Innings

A Strauss lbw Khan...3

M Roseberry not out...29

S Fleming not out...19

Extras...5

Total (1 wkt)...56

Fall: 1-5.

Bowling: Mees 8-1-28-0, Khan 6-1-13-1, Hicks 2-0-10-0.

OXFORD UNIVERSITY CCE

First Innings

(Overnight 32-0)

C Warren c Fleming b Cook...15

M Floyd c Weekes b Bloomfield...28

J Dalrymple c Nash b Bloomfield...32

J Porter c Shah b Fraser...15

H Jones c Nash b Tufnell...22

A Bones b Bloomfield...3

N Millar c Fraser b Hutton...9

T Hicks c Roseberry b Tufnell...23

S Khan c Fleming b Cook...1

T Mees lbw b Cook...4

T Sharpe not out...0

Extras...39

Total (all out)...191

Fall: 1-49, 2-70, 3-114, 4-125, 5-141, 6-155, 7-168, 8-169, 9-185.

Bowling: Bloomfield 21-8-49-3, Fraser 16-9-23-1, Tufnell 21.3-7-36-2, Cook 13-5-23-3, Weekes 12-5-19-0, Hutton 10-2-24-1.