Vaas and O'Brien ensure Northants' lead

Stumps Essex 433 (Cook 155, Mickleburgh 112, Vaas 5-73) and 26 for 0 v Northamptonshire 538 for 9 dec (Peters 105, O'Brien 96, Vaas 96)
Scorecard

Northamptonshire's Niall O'Brien and Chaminda Vaas both came within a whisker of making centuries on the third day of their County Championship Division Two match with Essex at Wantage Road. Ireland wicketkeeper O'Brien smashed 96 off 139 balls and former Sri Lanka seamer Vaas made the same total off 183 deliveries - including 12 fours and one six - as Northants declared on 538 for 9.

South African debutant Lonwabo Tsotsobe bowled 15 no-balls as he took two for 154 runs off 27 overs before Essex reached 26 without loss at the close with a draw looking inevitable. Northants started the day on 256 for 4, 177 runs behind their opponents, with Alex Wakely resuming on 54 and captain Andrew Hall on 6.

But Wakely added just four to his overnight total before he top-edged Ravi Bopara to England vice-captain Alastair Cook at slip in the allrounder's first over of the day. Hall reached 17 before, in attempting to duck Tsotsobe's delivery, he skewed the ball into the air and was easily caught by wicketkeeper and captain James Foster.

O'Brien and Vaas then survived for the rest of the morning session, adding 72 between them as the hosts reached lunch on 345 for 6. O'Brien then completed a half-century off 94 balls by crashing David Masters for a straight four and Vaas then reached 50 off 97 deliveries.

Masters finally got his reward for toiling away when O'Brien smashed him straight to Mark Pettini at extra cover. That broke a seventh-wicket stand of 155 and the hosts lost James Middlebrook, run out for 18, with the last ball before tea when Vaas slipped as they tried to run a single off Reece Topley. That left former Essex man Middlebrook stranded as Billy Godleman threw the ball back to Foster from midwicket for him to whip off the bails.

The ninth-wicket pairing of Vaas and Lee Daggett then added 50 between them in the evening session before Vaas finally holed out when he launched Tim Phillips to Matt Walker at deep square-leg. Northants finally declared after batting for 154 overs in total, leaving Daggett and Jack Brooks unbeaten on 33 and 15 respectively with their team 105 ahead.

Essex openers Godleman and Cook then survived the remaining seven overs and will resume tomorrow on 16 and 10 respectively.