Friday 2 September 2016 19:39, UK
Middlesex will begin the final day against Warwickshire at Edgbaston needing seven wickets to take a huge stride towards lifting their first Specsavers County Championship title for 23 years.
With nearest challengers Yorkshire held up by the weather in Southampton, Middlesex advanced to a position from which they would be disappointed not to close out victory.
Warwickshire closed the third day on 74-3 in pursuit of the target of 338 set by the Division One leaders when they declared their second innings at 267-7 at tea.
Half-centuries from Sam Robson (74) and Stevie Eskinazi (53) underpinned Middlesex's batting - which was largely unhurried despite the possibility of rain on the final day.
Hampshire and Yorkshire could only manage 19 overs of action as rain and then bad light truncated day three of the match at the Ageas Bowl with Yorkshire leading by 203 heading into the final day.
Alviro Petersen's stylish 155 helped Lancashire avoid the follow on as their match against Somerset at Emirates Old Trafford heads towards a draw.
Replying to the visitors' 553-8 declared, Lancashire were 422-9 at stumps after surviving the loss of three wickets for 17 runs soon after tea to reach their primary objective on what was sometimes a slow day.
The day-long defiance of Keaton Jennings spoilt Nottinghamshire's hopes of victory which would have given them a lifeline in Division One.
The left-handed opener joined Michael Di Venuto as the only player to score six championship centuries in a season for Durham and went on to make an unbeaten 171.
Durham were 385-8 - leading by 316 runs - when bad light forced a break and prompted a declaration which may have been influenced by a forecast of rain on Saturday afternoon.
