You might not know it from looking at the division two table, but these are difficult times for Warwickshire. Recent events have left them without an overseas player, their captain Darren Maddy with a broken thumb and his stand-in Ian Westwood with a threadbare attack which yesterday tried manfully to force an improbable win over Middlesex before running into Eoin Morgan and Shaun Udal, who both made unbeaten half-centuries in a dogged eighth-wicket stand of 117 in 32 overs to condemn the game to a draw.

When five wickets fell for 35 either side of lunch on a pitch showing signs of variable bounce, it looked as if Warwickshire would defy the odds to build on their lead at the top of the table. However, Morgan, the 21-year-old Ireland international, and Udal, who turns 40 next year, knuckled down to leave Warwickshire to reflect on what might have been had they not been deprived through one injury or another of the bowling services of their South African quick Monde Zondeki, Maddy and leg-spinner Ian Salisbury.

Their problems had begun on Wednesday morning, when Zondeki pulled up with a groin problem after sending down just 13 balls. He flies home shortly and will not return, and when his injury was swiftly followed by the news that Sanath Jayas-uriya would not be taking part in next month’s Twenty20 Cup after his surprise recall by Sri Lanka for the Asia Cup, Warwickshire were left in the lurch.

“I do feel a bit let down,” said director of coaching Ashley Giles, who may now pursue the explosive Western Australia batsman Luke Pomersbach for the Twenty20 and the New Zealand seamer Chris Martin for later in the season.

Worse was to follow on Thursday when Maddy had his thumb broken by Tim Murtagh - he could be out for two months - and the Warwickshire wheel lost another cog the following morning when Salisbury pulled a calf muscle during a warm-up.

That made the efforts yesterday of James Anyon, Naqaash Tahir, Jonathan Trott and the slow left-armer Ant Botha all the more admirable. Even so, the decision to make formal approaches to Graham Onions, the highly-rated Durham seamer, and the Gloucestershire quick Steve Kirby as Giles seeks to build a squad capable of reasserting itself in domestic cricket’s upper echelon seems like the right one. Others on the shopping list include the Gloucestershire allrounder Alex Gidman, Northamptonshire’s David Sales, and Stewart Walters, Surrey’s 24-year-old batsman, all of them out of contract at the end of the season.

Warwickshire began the day needing to take nine second-innings wickets with Middlesex still 17 runs behind on 124-1. They were encouraged when Owais Shah was caught behind in the ninth over aiming a horrible mow at Anyon the ball after completing a patient half-century. Since Giles doubles up these days as an England selector, it was a careless piece of timing in more ways than one.

The 19-year-old Billy Godleman and Ed Joyce seemed to be steering Middlesex towards safety as lunch approached, at which point Godleman, on 87, undid all his hard work by advancing on Botha and chipping him to short midwicket.

Joyce fell to Trott’s first ball after the break, and three more leg-before appeals were upheld in quick succession. Vernon Philander was trapped by Botha, before Anyon removed Ben Scott and Murtagh in successive overs to make it 218-7. At that stage Middlesex led by 77 with 53 overs to go, only for Morgan and Udal to ruin the script.