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Warwickshire are chasing an unlikely LV=Insurance County Championship win over Kent at Edgbaston after some inspired bowling from their seam attack.
Despite losing four sessions to bad weather, Warwickshire followed up with their 453 for four declared, in which Sam Hain made an unbeaten 165 and Dan Mousley made 94 from 93, beating Kent for 158.
All five seamers took wickets as Hasan Ali led the way with three for 36 and England’s Chris Woakes picked up two wickets in his first league match for 19 months.
Kent ended day three on 27 for one, to follow, still 268 behind.
Northamptonshire sealed their first league win over Middlesex since 2010 after the visitors suffered a fourth batting collapse of the season at Wantage Road.
Chris Tremain was the main destroyer with three for 41 as Middlesex, plagued by early season batting frailties, plummeted from 37 without loss to 107 for seven.
A 52-run stand between Toby Roland-Jones and Luke Hollman at least ensured there would be a fourth day, but Northamptonshire finished on 30 for one needing 119 for victory.
Surrey and Hampshire advanced to an exciting final day finish at the Kia Oval after Mohammad Abbas’ six for 64 and an unbeaten 79 from Nick Gubbins battled for the visitors’ top score.
For Surrey, it was Ollie Pope’s 91 and Dan Worrall’s three for 30 who did the most to keep alive their hopes of victory, but Hampshire reached the stumps with 198 for five – a lead of 182.
Keaton Jennings held Lancashire’s second innings together with a patient half-century against Essex at Chelmsford.
Skipper Jennings, the league’s top scorer last season, made an unbeaten 80 off 170 balls as Lancashire hit 167 off four on a rain-affected day, a lead of 155.
Brett Hutton took six wickets for 45 – his best figures for Nottinghamshire – to put them in a strong position against Somerset at Trent Bridge.
Somerset were bowled out for 173 answering Nottinghamshire’s first innings 256, and that lead was extended to 270 at the end.
Haseeb Hameed (34) and Lyndon James (32) ensured Somerset had plenty of work to do on the final day to stave off defeat.
Gloucestershire’s Second Division match against Yorkshire in Bristol was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
Umpires Billy Taylor and Paul Pollard made the decision after inspecting the outfield prior to what would have been day three of the four-day game.
A Gloucestershire statement read: “Due to the extremely high amount of rainfall in the weeks and days leading up to and during this match, we have an abnormally high water table and had no reasonable prospect of the outfield drying out and creating a playing surface safe for players.”
No games were possible for the second day in a row between Leicestershire and Derbyshire.
Leicestershire hit 234 for two from the only possible 63 overs.
Jack Haynes produced a career-best hitting of 134 off 255 balls in Worcestershire’s 366 for five declared.
Durham ended the third day with 96 for two in their second innings – a lead of 155.
