Thursday 11 September 2014 18:51, UK
Yorkshire will go into the final day of their fixture against Nottinghamshire needing just five more wickets to clinch the Division One title in the LV= County Championship.
The White Rose county forced their hosts to follow on at Trent Bridge after bowling them out for 203 first time around, Jack Brooks taking four wickets with Ryan Sidebottom and Adil Rashid sharing the other six.
Chris Read made an unbeaten 81, holding up Yorkshire’s march towards the crown by sharing in a 63-run partnership with last man Harry Gurney (15) before Brooks wrapped up the innings.
Asked to have another go, Nottinghamshire soon found themselves in trouble again when Sidebottom trapped Steven Mullaney lbw with the first delivery of the second innings.
Michael Lumb also fell cheaply and although Alex Hales (43) and James Taylor – who finished up unbeaten on 56 – put together a stand worth 62, Notts eventually closed the day on 149-5 to leave themselves still trailing by 180 runs.
If Yorkshire are unable to complete the job on Friday then Warwickshire can keep alive the race for top spot by beating Northamptonshire. Like the current leaders in the table, they too require five more wickets for victory.
Already-relegated Northants were 149-5 at stumps, trailing by 151 runs after the hosts had finally declared their mammoth first innings at Edgbaston on 573-9.
Jonathan Trott and Sam Hain took their fourth-wicket partnership on to 360 before the former was dismissed for 164. Hain carried on to reach a double century and had 208 to his name by the time he was bowled by James Middlebrook.
The Bears rather lost their way, losing five wickets for 42 runs at one stage, as Middlebrook worked his way through the lower order - including trapping England international Chris Woakes lbw for one - to finish with 5-124.
At the other end of the table, Lancashire fought hard at Hove, closing on 203-4 to leave themselves 89 runs in front of Sussex.
Ashwell Prince hit 85 to help push his side ahead, though the former South Africa batsman was dismissed in the penultimate over of the day to end his 91-run alliance with Steven Croft (34 not out).
Ashar Zaidi picked up two Lancashire wickets to follow up his 66 with the bat, the all-rounder's best score in the Championship this summer helping Sussex claim a first-innings advantage.
Chris Jordan weighed in with 44 as the home county carried their overnight total of 341-7 on to 434 before they were finally bowled out, spinner Steven Kerrigan getting the final two wickets to finish with 3-117.
Middlesex's relegation worries were hardly eased despite a 10-wicket haul for Tim Murtagh, with in-form Durham setting them a victory target of 396 at Lord's.
Gordon Muchall, batting at number eight, scored an unbeaten 74 to lead his team from 139-6 to 294 all out in their second innings, while Paul Collingwood chipped in with his second half-century of the match.
Murtagh claimed 5-86 to give him match figures of 10-192, though the hosts were still left with a lot of work to do with the bat to claim the win they need to move themselves away from the bottom two.
Their chase didn't get off to the best possible start as Chris Rogers fell to the fifth ball he had faced for the second time. By the close Middlesex were 44-1, Sam Robson racing to 34 not out from 36 deliveries.
Watch the final day of Nottinghamshire v Yorkshire LIVE on Sky Sports 2 HD from 10am on Friday
