Tuesday 5 July 2016 21:52, UK
A century stand between Haseeb Hameed and Tom Smith boosted Lancashire's chances of avoiding defeat in their Specsavers County Championship Division One match against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge on Tuesday.
Batting for a second time and trailing by 198 runs, the openers reached stumps on day three 128-0, closing the deficit to just 70.
Smith, who made 70 in the first innings, made 66 with Hameed undefeated on 58.
Their partnership is the first three-figure stand by any Lancashire openers for 22 innings, since Paul Horton and Karl Brown put on 130 against Northamptonshire last season.
Lancs began the game as division leaders only to see Warwickshire overtake them at the summit after they secured a 10-wicket win over Surrey inside three days and the Red Rose county were put under pressure by a strong batting display from their opponents.
With the top nine batsmen each scoring at least 30 runs, Notts batted until midway through the third afternoon before being dismissed for 474, with Neil Wagner, who took 11 wickets when the sides met at Old Trafford in April, returning figures of 3-107.
Elsewhere in Division One, Stevie Eskinazi earned Middlesex a first-innings lead over Yorkshire after batting for most of the third day at Scarborough.
The 22-year-old South African hit a career-best 157 and although a number of wickets went down in the closing overs, Middlesex reached stumps 470-8 to give themselves a lead of 64.
Yorkshire wanted early wickets on day three but they never materialised as Eskinazi and George Bailey built steadily on their third-wicket partnership after the away side resumed on 130-2 at North Marine Road.
Although Bailey survived a sharp return chance to Tim Bresnan on 36, the pair dominated for the most part and after Bailey had straight driven Azeem Rafiq over the sightscreen for six, he completed his half-century from 83 balls with seven other boundaries to his name.
Eskinazi finally succumbed late in the day when he pulled Jack Brooks to Kane Williamson on the mid-wicket boundary, having batted for six-and-a-half hours.
Brooks finished the day with figures of 5-89 from his 33 overs, 12 of which were maidens.
In the other top-flight game still proceeding on Tuesday, Durham have challenged Hampshire to set them a target on the final day at Chester-le-Street by declaring 51 behind on 421-9.
With six overs to bat, Will Smith and Jimmy Adams stretched the lead to 60. But despite their keenness to push for a win, it would be a big gamble to set a victory target on the flat pitch.
Keaton Jennings followed his unbeaten 221 in the second innings of Durham's last match against Yorkshire by making 129, his fifth century of the season.
Jack Burnham scored 74 and Ben Stokes added a run-a-ball half-century as Durham reached 295-3 before stumbling to 349-9, with Ryan McLaren (3-78) and Gareth Andrew (3-104) picking up three wickets apiece.
But with 10 overs to score 51 for maximum batting points, Barry McCarthy and Graham Onions got there with 10 balls to spare.
The Irishman hit two sixes in reaching his maiden 50 off 47 balls, while Onions contributed 23 to the unbroken stand of 72.
