The Cricketer wraps up the best of the action during day three of round eight of the Vitality County Championship in 2024
Bristol (day three of four): Derbyshire 526, Gloucestershire 399-4 - Gloucestershire trail by 127 runs with six wickets remaining
Gloucestershire's James Bracey and Graeme van Buuren blasted their side out of trouble with swashbuckling centuries before rain took a hand on the third day of the Vitality County Championship Division Two match with Derbyshire at Bristol.
The fifth-wicket pair launched a savage attack on the second new ball, producing a boundary blitz and adding 156 runs to their team's overnight first innings total of 243 for 4 in just 21 overs before the heavens opened, with Bracey unbeaten on 137 and van Buuren having raced to 156 not out.
No play was possible after lunch. At 399 for 4, Gloucestershire were still 127 short of Derbyshire's first innings total of 526, but on the most benign of batting surfaces, with two players in top form, they can feel optimistic of avoiding defeat on the final day.
Shan Masood is leading from the front for Yorkshire (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
Grace Road (day three of four): Glamorgan 387 & 14-1, Leicestershire 343-9 - Glamorgan lead by 58 runs with nine wickets remaining
Glamorgan take a lead of 58 with nine wickets in hand into the final day of their Vitality County Championship match against Leicestershire after the home side declared in arrears on a rain-restricted third day at the Uptonsteel County Ground.
Having been 280 for 5 from 85 overs overnight, Leicestershire lost not-out centurion Peter Handscomb in the second over after a delayed start, and then puzzled spectators by showing little inclination to chase more than one extra batting bonus point before declaring at 343 for 9 in reply to Glamorgan's 387 all out.
Handscomb made 103, his second hundred of the season. Nightwatchman Scott Currie was out five short of following last week's career-best 72 against Gloucestershire with the second first-class fifty of his career.
Timm van der Gugten, in his first match of the season after injury, finished with 5 for 65.
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Lord's (day three of four): Sussex 554-9 dec, Middlesex 403-6 - Middlesex trail by 151 runs with four wickets remaining
Sam Robson and Ryan Higgins continued their fine form with centuries as Middlesex's run-fest of a game with visitors Sussex continued on day three at Lord's.
Robson underpinned the hosts response to Sussex's mammoth 554 for 9 with 136, the 35th first-class hundred of his career, while Higgins added the flair his third century of the campaign – an effort of 106 in Middlesex's total of 403 for 6.
Sussex, for whom Jack Carson returned figures of 3 for 89 will rue dropping Robson twice on 51 and 129, while Higgins was also given a life on 67, England seamer Ollie Robinson the unlucky bowler on each occasion.
Graeme van Buuren and James Bracey built a record-breaking stand (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Related: Ryan Higgins: "Perception is always going to be there, but I am less fussed about it now"
Wantage Road (day three of four): Yorkshire 362 & 156-5, Northamptonshire 301 - Yorkshire lead by 217 runs with five wickets remaining
Yorkshire captain Shan Masood struck a combative, unbeaten 82 to put Yorkshire firmly in the driving seat at the end of a frustrating, rain-shortened third day of this Vitality County Championship match at Wantage Road.
Pressing the accelerator, the Yorkshire captain helped the White Rose extend their advantage over Northamptonshire to 217 runs as they closed on 156 for 5 in their second innings when play was finally called off for the day.
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