Alastair Cook, resuming on 43, made the game safe for Essex by remaining unbeaten on 84 yesterday, after overnight and morning rain ensured that the match would end in a a draw.
Play could not start until 3pm, but the England Test opener was ultimately denied a century when bad light brought a premature close at 5.10pm.
Middlesex will be frustrated that only 30.1 overs were possible in the day. With no weather interruptions, they would have backed themselves to win, especially as Steven Finn produced pace and bounce to have Matthew Walker caught at the wicket and the spinners, Murali Kartik and Shaun Udal, found turn from a dusting surface.
Mark Pettini fell to Kartik, attempting an ill-judged sweep, but Cook held firm. The England player, though tested by Finn on occasions, also hooked him high over fine leg for six and later on-drove Gareth Berg for four in rare shows of aggression.
Otherwise, Cook was mainly content to see out time, padding up repeatedly to Kartik when the left-arm spinner came over the wicket to him and attempting to turn the ball out of the bowlers’ footmarks.
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Berg did get one beauty past Cook’s outside edge, but the 24-year old left-hander faced 182 balls in all, hitting nine fours and the six. His half-century had taken him 111 balls.
There were a minimum of 12.5 overs remaining when poor light drove the players off for the final time but, despite their disappointment, Middlesex will take heart from this performance - and especially that of Finn, 20, who was well worth the eight wickets he picked up in the match.
Middlesex: First Innings 274 (M Kartik 62 not out, G K Berg 56; D D Masters 5 for 65, C J C Wright 4 for 71)
Second Innings 297 for 7 dec (A J Strauss 97; Danish Kaneria 4 for 85)
Essex: First Innings 157 (S T Finn 5 for 57, G K Berg 4 for 35)
Second Innings
A N Cook not out 84
J E R Gallian b Finn 12
V Chopra b Finn 0
M J Walker c Nash b Finn 19
*M L Pettini lbw b Kartik 21
J D Middlebrook not out 9
Extras (b 8, lb 2, nb 4) 14
Total (4 wkts, 62.1 overs) 159
Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-40, 3-90, 4-145.
Bowling: Silverwood 12-2-34-0; Finn 17-1-67-3; Berg 8-3-14-0; Kartik 15.1-7-19-1; Udal 10-3-15-0.
Umpires: V A Holder and D J Millns.