Yorkshire edge closer to safety as relegation equation wavers for Durham

Yorkshire are closing in on Division One survival in the Rothesay County Championship, but Durham are not quite sure of the size of their task heading into day four at Headingley.

Should Hampshire - 148 for 9 chasing 181 to beat Surrey at the Utilita Bowl - lose, seventh-placed Yorkshire would be safe no matter the result here in this season finale. Second-bottom Durham would need a draw to be safe.

Should Hampshire win - they are eighth in the table - Yorkshire would need to draw here, which they are very well placed to do. But Durham would need a miracle victory to get out of trouble.

Yorkshire, replying to a first-innings 346 all out, started a weather-affected day on 314 for 5 and advanced to 465 for 9 in the 51 overs possible, with George Hill compiling a skilful season's best 88.

It's difficult to see how Durham can win, so they desperately need Surrey to do so down on the south coast.

Bad light interrupted play on three occasions at Headingley, with the bulk of the evening lost. No play was possible beyond 3.25pm.

Hill impressively supplemented Indian batter Mayank Agarwal's superb 175 on day two with his fourth fifty of a season which has seen him excel with the ball. His seamers have accounted for 47 Championship wickets.

He shared in half-century stands with fellow allrounders Matthew Revis and Jordan Thompson, the latter contributing an unbeaten 44.

The morning session was a relatively quiet affair, with Yorkshire advancing to 365 for 7. Ben Raine, who has been excellent with 4 for 71 from 33 overs added to his first-innings century, and Matthew Potts struck for Durham.

Raine broke a sixth-wicket stand of 50 between Revis, 38, and Hill. Revis, crowned Yorkshire's members' player of the year at the end of day two here, was trapped lbw by an in-ducker before Dom Bess pulled Potts to deep backward square-leg.

Hill was a calming presence for Yorkshire as they stretched their lead. In all, he hit 14 fours in 175 balls. Thompson was more expansive, whipping Will Rhodes over deep midwicket for six.

Hill moved to a fifty off 105 balls shortly before the hosts reached 400 for 7 in the early stages of the afternoon. By this stage, Yorkshire led by 54 and Durham's need for wickets was becoming more desperate.

Hill did fall short of what would have been his season's first century when bowled trying to attack the legspin of Afghanistan's Shafiqullah Ghafari. But Yorkshire's lead was 97 at 443 for 8.

Hill and Thompson had shared an eighth-wicket 86, the latter allrounder playing his last match before a winter move to Warwickshire.

Matt Milnes edged to slip to hand Ghafari a fourth wicket before the third bad light stoppage at 3.25pm was the last. With the players off the field at that stage, Durham's dressing room would have been buoyed by news from Southampton.

Yorkshire will head into day four in a much more relaxed state given their strong performance here. Durham, on the other hand, will be on tenterhooks not quite knowing the size or shape of their task in hand.