Flintoff leads Lancashire fightback

Worcestershire 306 and 58 for 2 need a further 210 runs to beat Lancashire 196 and 377 (Flintoff 83, Law 83, Cork 57, Mason 4-107)
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A thrilling final day is in prospect at New Road after Andrew Flintoff led a superb Lancashire fightback on the third day. Flintoff was at the crease quickly on the third morning, following two early wickets, and began scratchily after his first-innings duck - it took him 27 minutes to get off the mark. But, once he got going, he was off - and he took a liking to Gareth Batty's offpsin, whose first three overs cost 31 runs. Flintoff shared a vital stand of 139 with Stuart Law but, when he edged the part-time medium-pace of Stephen Moore, and Law was dismissed by Matt Mason, the visitors were again in trouble. However, Dominic Cork and Sajid Mahmood shared another crucial partnership of 78 to stretch Lancashire's lead. Worcestershire were hindered by a depleted attack: David Wigley has a broken hand (the result of an accidental beamer from James Anderson) and Kabir Ali could only manage six overs because of tonsillitis. Worcestershire, chasing a target of 268, lost Stephen Peters first ball - he edged an Anderson snorter to Warren Hegg to prove there is still plenty of life in the pitch. But, crucially for Worcestershire, Hick remained steadfast - pulling Anderson for six - and leaving the game intriguingly poised, with all to play for.

Derbyshire 135 for 4 trail Northamptonshire 451 for 7 (Love 168, Shafayat 161) by 316 runs
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Derbyshire put up a much-improved batting performance after they were made to follow on by Northamptonshire. Steve Stubbings and Michael di Venuto remained unbeaten at the close but after Derbyshire showed once more their tendency to collapse, they will have to battle on the final day. Derbyshire - four wickets down overnight - lost three more quickly in the morning session before a defiant stand of 61 between Chris Bassano and Ant Botha. Johann Louw returned to wrap up the innings and finish with career-best figures of 6 for 71, a worthy reward for more than 30 overs of hard work. Northants fancied their chances of making inroads into the home side again, but Stubbings and di Venuto put up sterner resistance, giving Derbyshire hope for the last day.

Somerset 190 and 128 for 5 (Francis 54*, Adams 4-31) trail Essex 427 for 8dec (Cook 111, Foster 78*) by 109 runs
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Andre Adams claimed a hat-trick as Somerset stumbled towards another heavy defeat. He dismissed Michael Burns, Sanath Jayasuriya and James Hildreth as Somerset slid to 65 for 4, having begun their second innings 237 runs behind. Adams returned and nipped out Ian Blackwell with the last ball of the day to leave Somerset with a mountain to climb. The home side's cause was not aided by another Marcus Trescothick failure - his mind perhaps still not fully focused on batting - and it was left to John Francis to put up the only real resistance. Essex's lead was boosted by an eighth-wicket stand between James Foster and Alex Tudor that brought 107 runs to deflate Somerset, Tudor hitting three sixes in his 57.