New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming produced a vital innings for his Middlesex side in the CricInfo County Championship today.

Playing against Gloucestershire at Bristol in the second division of the championship, Middlesex were in early strife with two wickets down for five runs.

But Fleming played one of his better hands for the county so far when scoring 52 and seeing the score through to 102 before he was the fourth wicket to depart the crease after returning a caught and bowled chance to Mark Alleyne.

Fleming batted 144 minutes and faced 118 balls and hit nine fours in his innings.

Chasing Gloucestershire's 272, Middlesex were 186/7 at stumps. The game has two days remaining.

Meanwhile, in the Lancashire league, Tama Canning has been involved with Nathan Astle's former club Accrington, and while he has enjoyed personal success, the club is struggling for wins. Canning was fon the brink of international selection during the last summer when he was given dispensation to represent New Zealand despite a long period of his life spent living in Australia.

However, the call-up did not come as Canning lost form and opportunities before he could be named by the selectors.

In his first match, against Colne, Canning took six for 43 before the match was abandoned due to bad weather with Colne 127/7.

The following day saw Canning take five for 71 in 21 overs against East Lancashire who finished on 146/6. Accrington failed to score any more than 80 in their innings when Australian cricketer Brad Young took seven for 28.

A week later Canning took four for 68 against Lowerhouse who were 138/8 at the end of their innings. Accrington again fell short however, as they were all out for 127.

Last weekend, in their most recent game, Haslingden scored 170/6 with Canning taking three for 44. Canning came to light with the bat while scoring 36 but the side finished on 145/9.

© CricInfo