100 for Libbypublished at 12:48 British Summer Time 12 May

12:48 BST 12 May

Sussex 284 & 256 v Worcs 180 & 180-5 (target 361)

A first hundred of the season for Jake Libby who brings up his milestone with a pull through midwicket off Tom Clark which brings three runs.

Much rests on the shoulders of the 32-year-old if Worcs are to knock off this mammoth chase but Hove clearly suits his eye.

Libby has 18 first class hundreds (five against Sussex) but the biggest of them and his high score of 215 came here at Hove for Worcs in September 2022.

Something of a similar magnitude would do it.

Michael Pepper's a player who likes to, er, pepper the boundaries at Chelmsford when he's in T20 mode and he dances down the track to Dom Bess again, hammering him for six somewhere in the direction of the river.

Pepper has now overtaken Matt Critchley with 38 to his partner's 34 and the pair have added 79 for this fifth wicket.

Runs aren't really in the equation today, though, with Essex still needing almost 400 more for an improbable victory.

Is Beau Webster carrying an injury or is this a deliberate tactic?

The Australian all-rounder switched from seam to spin yesterday and is carrying on with it today.

That one is short and wide and a gift of four runs for Ben Foakes.

It's an intriguing battle between Dom Bess and Michael Pepper, with the batter thinking about giving Bess the charge again and just adjusting at the last moment to pad the ball away instead.

Bess has conceded another boundary in that over, although it goes down as leg byes, with Pepper's rather untidy sweep flying off the pad to long leg.

Yorkshire are going with a two-pronged spin attack now, as left-armer Dan Moriarty is bowling in tandem with Bess.

Dave Bradley
Cricket commentator

We are 25 minutes from lunch and maybe if you had offered Worcestershire at the start of play that you would lose two wickets in the first session, they would've probably accepted that.

They haven't scored a vast amount of runs this morning but they have only lost the two wickets.

Che Simmons returns and reverts to the round-the-wicket, short of a length tactic that served him well yesterday. Matthew Fisher, though, keeps his composure and sees another over tick by.

Matthew Revis tries a change of angle, going over the wicket to Michael Pepper, but still without success and Yorkshire are going to need to keep their heads as they strive to force victory.

Pepper's eyes light up in the next over as Dom Bess tosses one up and he unfurls the sweep shot for six.

The batter has another go at Bess later in the over, driving on the leg side and it's fractionally wide of Jonny Tattersall. leaping to his left at midwicket.

OK, this pitch continues to offer nothing for the bowlers, but this is a class innings by Ben Foakes.

Oliver Hannon-Dalby is a fraction too full and the Surrey batter eases it through mid-off for four.

No excessive flourish, just a simple push and that is his 20th boundary, to go with the two sixes that took him to his 100.

He now has 130 not out.

A single off Ollie Robinson from the Worcestershire captain Brett D'Oliveira brings the runs required down below 200.

A milestone of sorts.

And it looks like Fynn Hudson-Prentice will replace Robinson at the Cromwell Road End with the former England man grabbing his sweater.

No wickets as yet this morning, so Yorkshire have opted to combine seam with the off-spin of Dom Bess.

Bess, who's operating with two close catchers on the leg side, gets one to turn nicely from outside off stump to Matt Critchley, but the batter plays it pretty well.

He's advanced to 32, with Michael Pepper now on 25 after a very slow start.

Ollie Robinson might have finished his spell but for that wicket. He is back though for another at the new batter Brett D'Oliveira.

The Sussex bowler, into his 20th over, still has the energy to fire in a short one which sails over the batsman's head and is called a wide.

Another short one at Jake Libby is pulled but pops up off the bat and lands safe behind square.

Rob Yates trundles in at the start of a new over and Ben Foakes sweeps for four. Surrey now 240 behind.

50 partnership for Critchley and Pepperpublished at 12:11 British Summer Time 12 May

12:11 BST 12 May

Essex 96-4 (target 520) v Yorks

Each milestone is important when you're in the kind of position Essex find themselves, so the 50 partnership between Matt Critchley and Michael Pepper will be very welcome in the home camp.

But there's a scare for Essex as Matthew Revis, who is hurtling around the wicket and trying some short-pitched stuff, gets one to rise and take an edge from Pepper.

Fortunately for him, the ball looped high over Jonny Bairstow and the slip cordon to safety.

Ben Foakes clips past mid-on for four and then lifts the next ball over the same fielder for another boundary.

He is 121 not out but the final delivery of the over from Rob Yates is almost his undoing as he inside edges an attempted cover drive and it just misses the stumps.

Oliver Hannon-Dalby will bowl the next over, his first of the session.

Jonathan Doidge
BBC Radio Leeds cricket commentator

We are nearly bang on an hour played and Essex are doing well in their attempt to get out of this with a draw, as they are yet to lose a wicket today.

Meanwhile, Yorkshire are trying to find one delivery to break them, there is still 82 overs in the day, so there is no panic just yet, but no breakthrough either.

Ollie Robinson has James Hayes to thank for stopping a boundary with an athletic piece of fielding on the midwicket rope keeping it to two after Jake Libby pounces on a loose ball down leg side.

The Sussex bowler changes his angle coming around the wicket next ball and beats the bat. There is a big shout but replays show it flicks the pad not bat.

Robinson follows up with another which beats the bat and then a short one is pulled to Jack Carson on the square leg rope for a single and he finishes up back over the wicket to Ethan Brookes with a dot.

A right old bag of allsorts that was.

Warwickshire bring in a silly mid-off with Matthew Fisher on strike.

He will be well chuffed with that decision after Ethan Bamber sends down a half-volley which Matthew Fisher cracks away for four.

Fortunately, it didn't hit him.

Runs are positively flowing now for Essex, at least by comparison with that first half-hour.

Michael Pepper registers his first boundary of the day, tickling one from Jack White around the corner to long leg.

However, there's also a tricky moment for the batter as White finds extra bounce again and Pepper does well to fend the ball off and deny the short leg fielder the chance of a catch.

A play and a miss from Jake Libby as Ollie Robinson tempts him with a loose one outside off stump and the batsman admonishes himself for his recklesssness.

Robinson hangs another out there next ball and Libby cannot resist again, this time meeting it in the middle and sending it through the covers for four.