Worcestershire were frustrated by an unbeaten half-century from Andrew Strauss after promotion hopefuls Middlesex had won the toss in the County Championship Division Two clash at New Road today.

He and Robin Weston launched the visitors' innings against pacemen Andy Bichel and Alamgir Sheriyar and rapidly signalled their intentions by completing a 50 stand inside 11 overs.

It came up when Weston, the younger brother of Worcestershire opener Phil, edged Sheriyar to the boundary.

After a cautious start, both batsmen steadily began to step up the tempo with Strauss in impressive form.

In a bid to break the stand the County drafted young paceman Chris Liptrot into the attack to enable Sheriyar to switch ends.

The changes failed to make any immediate impact, with Strauss eager to keep the scoreboard ticking along.

Sheriyar was eventually replaced at the Diglis End by medium pacer David Leatherdale.

Strauss completed his half-century with the help of nine fours off 55 balls. After 21 overs Middlesex were 96 without loss.

Worcestershire, as expected, included 18-year-old batsman Kadeer Ali for his third championship appearance of the season. He replaced Paul Pollard.

Before the start, both teams lined up outside the Pavilion to pay silent tribute to the victims of yesterday's terrorist attacks in the United States.