The Cricketer wraps up the best of the action during day three of round nine of the Vitality County Championship in 2024
Chelmsford (day three of four): Durham 587 & 184-4 dec, Essex 339 & 28-1 - Essex trail by 405 runs with nine second-innings wickets remaining
Wicketkeeper Michael Pepper equalled the Essex record for the most Vitality County Championship wickets in a match as his side were set 433 to win on an intriguing final day.
Pepper had taken four catches in the first innings and followed it up with another quartet of pouches and a stumping in the second to equal the county's best nine in the match.
Earlier, Paul Walter had completed the second century of his career but Matthew Potts' exceptional fast bowling gave Durham a 248-run first-innings lead.
Having not asked Essex to follow on, Jamie Porter extended his lead as Division One's leading wicket-taker with three scalps to take him to 32 wickets this season, with Simon Harmer picking up four.
That set Essex 433 to win in a minimum of 107 overs, and in the 11 overs in the evening, Potts nicked off Nick Browne as the hosts reached 28 for one with 405 still to win.
Related: Centurion Tom Abell frustrates Notts' England hopefuls - but shop window remains open
Dillon Pennington took his wicket tally for the season to 29 (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
Canterbury (day three of four): Kent 244 & 143-6, Lancashire 549-9 dec - Kent trail by 162 runs with four second-innings wickets remaining
Lancashire were closing in on a huge victory in their Vitality County Championship with Kent at Canterbury, having reduced the hosts to 143 for 6 at stumps on day three.
Kent still trail by 162 with just four second innings wickets remaining, Charlie Stobo and Beyers Swanepoel the not out batters on 25 and 18 respectively.
Lancashire declared on 549 for 9, a lead of 305, with Josh Bohannon making 205 and Matty Hurst 50, while George Garrett took 3 for 89.
Will Williams and Tom Bailey then both took two wickets apiece to leave Kent six down at stumps. Ben Compton was their highest scorer with just 37 and the chances of them escaping with anything other than a heavy defeat to their relegation rivals are bleak.
Trent Bridge (day three of four): Nottinghamshire 360 and 177-1, Somerset 470 - Nottinghamshire lead by 67 runs with nine second-innings wickets remaining
South African all-rounder Migael Pretorius added an unbeaten 95 to his four first-innings wickets to help Somerset carve out a 110-run first-innings lead on day three at Trent Bridge - yet with Nottinghamshire 177 for 1 in their second innings at the close, Craig Overton's team have a lot to do if they are to take home a third Vitality County Championship win of the season.
Pretorius, who spent part of last season with Durham, hammered six sixes and eight fours in a 71-ball assault to ensure that the efforts of Tom Abell and Tom Lammonby on day two were not wasted.
Somerset had suffered a mid-innings stumble from 315 for four to 356 for eight and were still in arrears until Pretorius and Jack Leach (37) put on 79 in rapid time, the 29-year-old Pretorius missing out on a second career hundred only because he ran out of partners.
Nottinghamshire fast bowler Dillon Pennington took 5 for 96, raising his tally for the season to 29 with his first five-wicket haul since moving from Worcester to Trent Bridge in the winter. Leg spinner Calvin Harrison's reward for bowling 39 overs in the heat was figures of 3 for 173.
Yet the wicket of Haseeb Hameed, bowled by captain Overton for 91, is Somerset's only second innings success so far from 58 overs of toil after the Nottinghamshire skipper had shared a 172-run opening partnership with Ben Slater, who finished on 70 not out in the company of nightwatchman Olly Stone.
Related: Yorkshire in the ascendancy as late wickets punish Gloucestershire
Hampshire captain James Vince stuck a fine century to leave Warwickshire with an uphill task (Warren Little/Getty Images)
Edgbaston (day three of four): Hampshire 298 & 88-2, Warwickshire 453-6d and 40-1 - Warwickshire trail by 458 runs with nine second-innings wickets remaining
James Vince and Liam Dawson harvested merciless centuries as Hampshire piled pressure on Warwickshire on the third day of their Vitality County Championship match at Edgbaston.
Vince scored an unbeaten 166 (197 balls), his 29th first class century, and Dawson 120 (157), his 15th, in a sixth-wicket partnership of 255 in 53 overs as the visitors amassed 453 for 6 declared.
That set the home side a victory target of 498 in a day and 12 overs and Warwickshire reached 40 for one by the close. Both teams will enter the final day with a chance of victory, but a draw is much the likeliest outcome on a pitch that is flattening out by the hour.
It remains to be seen whether Hampshire's pragmatic approach on the third day proves successful. They plumped for steady accumulation, only very belatedly showing some aggression after tea when Vince and Dawson were each past 100. That policy of attrition may well transpire to have asked too much of their bowlers to force victory in such batter-friendly conditions.
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New Road (day three of four): Surrey 490, Worcestershire 212 and 207-5 - Worcestershire trail by 71 runs with five second-innings wickets remaining
Leaders Surrey remain on course to win their fifth Vitality County Championship match of the season despite prolonged resistance from Worcestershire's Gareth Roderick and Kashif Ali on day three at Visit Worcestershire New Road.
Surrey achieved the first objective before lunch in claiming the final three Worcestershire first innings wickets and enforcing the follow on with a lead of 278 despite resistance from top scorer Jake Libby, Ben Allison and Adam Finch.
Opener Roderick and Kashif then dug in to add 135 from 34 overs in relatively untroubled fashion for the second wicket.
But three wickets then fell in three overs to turn the game firmly back in Surrey's favour in the final session of the day.
Jordan Clark was the chief thorn in Worcestershire's side with three wickets as they closed still needing 71 to make Surrey bat again.
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