Kevin Innes made a vital breakthrough for Sussex just before rain forced a halt to their Championship match against Middlesex at Lord's today.

Innes ended a partnership of 117 in 29 overs between Andrew Strauss and Owais Shah when he trapped Shah lbw for 61 with his second ball of the match as the England one-day batsman played across the wrong line.

Moments later the expected rain arrived at Lord's with Middlesex 136-2 and needing another 192 to win. An early tea was taken, but with no sign of an improvement in the weather it looks as if the match will go into a fourth day.

Bad light delayed the start this morning for 35 minutes and Sussex extended their second innings for another 3.1 overs with last wicket pair Jason Lewry and James Kirtley taking the score to 204 before Lewry was caught behind off Australian Joe Dawes.

That left Middlesex 328 to win but it soon became evident that batting would be a lot easier than it had been on the first two days when 29 wickets fell.

There was little swing for either Lewry or Kirtley although the left-armer did make a breakthrough in the ninth over when he had Sven Koenig caught behind as he drove without much footwork outside off stump.

But Shah and Strauss looked untroubled as they both reached 50 and Shah brought up the century stand for the second wicket with an effortless six off Mushtaq Ahmed over long off.

The Pakistani leg spinner proved expensive and Chris Adams' decision to bring on Innes to replace him at the Nursery End was vindicated when the all-rounder struck to leave the contest delicately poised.