Day three from eight County Championship games
Div One: Essex v Kent, Middlesex v Surrey, Northants v Somerset, Notts v Hants, Warwickshire v Lancs
Somerset beat Northants by nine wickets
Hampshire beat Notts by 116 runs
Div Two: Derbys v Durham, Leics v Worcs, Yorkshire v Sussex, Gloucs v Glamorgan (day two)
Worcs beat Leics by 100 runs
Essex 458-8 dec v Kent 207 & 20-1
Slow and steady won't win this race, but it might prevent Kent losing it by an innings and more.
Ben Compton is one of the best around in situations like this and Harry Finch has settled in nicely after his first-innings 15-ball duck. He's already taken Simon Harmer to the ropes and moved to 10 from 18 balls.
231 needed to make Essex bat again.
Warwickshire 193-6 v Lancashire 327
Scott Read
BBC Radio Lancashire commentator
On a tired, slow looking pitch it feels like it might be tough going to bowl a team out twice to win a match especially with such a poor forecast tomorrow.
However, maybe just a few signs late last night that the pitch might start to break up, it's the same one used for T20 Finals Day and if Lancashire are able to secure a sizeable first innings lead we could see life in this game after all.
Yorkshire are on the charge against Sussex - they've scored 55 off the first four overs of the morning to move to 341-4. Dawid Malan has been the chief aggressor and the England batter is up to 85. The lead is 125.
Worcestershire are one wicket away from victory at Leicestershire. The Foxes are 137-9 at Oakham School and still well short of their 238 target.
Gloucestershire have picked up the wicket of Colin Ingram this morning at Cheltenham College to leave Glamorgan 173-3.
And it's raining at Derbyshire where Durham are waiting to resume on 364-4.
Northants 180 & 177-7 v Somerset 351
Four wickets for Matt Henry who gets one to nip back off the seam and trap Tom Taylor infront. Taylor did take a stride forward and doesnt like the decision, but he has to go.
Ben Sanderson is the new man for Northants, joining skipper Luke Procter.
The lead is six with effectively two wickets remaining.
Northants 180 & 177-6 v Somerset 351
A couple of fours off Matt Henry this morning - his fourth and fifth - have helped the 35-year-old post his 34th first class half century from 94 balls. A gutsy knock considering the circumstances.
Procter has also ensured Somerset will at the very least need to bat again as Northants have moved into the lead by six runs.
Northants 180 & 159-6 v Somerset 351
Somerset's task has become 25% easier... news has emerged at Wantage Road this morning that Sam Whiteman will not bat for Northants after the birth of his third child overmight.
Congratulations to all the Whiteman family. His side are up against it but some things remain more important than cricket. We all need a reminder of that from time to time.
Luke Procter is on to 44 and the deficit is down to 12.
Warwickshire 183-6 v Lancashire 327
Jack Morley makes the first breakthough of the day at Edgbaston as Dan Mousley departs, having added just two runs to his overnight 45.
The new man in is Michael Burgess.
Hampshire 166 & 344-5 dec, Notts 100 & 19-1
Hampshire have their first wicket of the morning - Ben Slater - as paceman Mohammad Abbas makes a mess of the Notts opener's stumps.
The off and middle are both rearranged, so he has to leave right now.
Will Young is the new man in
Image source, Rex FeaturesMiddlesex 184-5 v Surrey 433
John Simpson picks up a single from the opening over from Dan Worrall to move to 55* while Ethan Bamber finds the rope courtesy of a streaky edge through the slips to reach five.
Order of the day for the hosts is to bat for as long as they can. Batting bonus points have been rare as hen's teeth for Middlesex but they are 66 away with five wickets in hand and 45 overs to get there.
Bite-size targets in the face of this imposing Surrey total.
Lancashire 327, Warwickshire 183-5
We are underway on day three at Edgbaston for what, according to the weather reports, will be the final day of this contest.
And Lancashire have their two spinners Luke Wells and Jack Morley in tandem.
Four runs added so far.
Northants 180 & 151-6 v Somerset 351
Luke Procter (37*) and Tom Taylor (24*) hauled the hosts into a 20-run lead by stumps on day two but the bad news for Northants is that Matt Henry and Craig Overton still exist.
They have six wickets apiece in the match so far and only four more are needed to give the visitors a presumably pretty modest total to knock off.
Overton straight on the money in the opening over of the day.
Every ball covered
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The players have made their way out to the middle, let's go...
Essex 458-8 dec v Kent 207 & 4-1
It's been 12 years since Kent last won a red-ball match at Chelmsford and eight years since their last Championship win against their rivals from across the River Thames full stop, that coming at Tunbridge Wells.
You'd expect we'll be adding another digit on to those stats next season given Kent trail by 247 runs on the third morning with only nine wickets remaining, having lost Tawanda Muyeye LBW to Sam Cook off the final delivery of day two.
Expect Cook - who has 4-19 from 14 overs in the match - and Simon Harmer, on a deteriorating pitch, to be front and centre once again as Essex seek to register a fourth straight Division One win to keep the pressure on leaders Surrey.
Joe Denly was off the field with an injury yesterday evening so Harry Finch joins Ben Compton in the middle for the opening over of the day.
Bat the day and hope for bad weather, is pretty much Kent's only plan here.
Day three
Div One
Div Two
Morning!
It's day three of the County Championship and all the action is coming up in 10 minutes...
Image source, Rex Features