County Championship Division Two roundup: Middlesex fight back at Bristol as weather dominates elsewhere

The Cricketer wraps up the best of the action during day three of round four of the Vitality County Championship in 2024

Bristol (day three of four): Middlesex 203 & 262-3, Gloucestershire 322 - Middlesex lead by 143 runs with seven wickets remaining

Centuries from Max Holden and Ryan Higgins dug Middlesex out of a hole on the third day of the Vitality County Championship Second Division match with Gloucestershire at Bristol.

Having conceded a first innings lead of 119 by bowling out their opponents for 322 from an overnight 271 for 6, the visitors slipped to nine for two in their second innings before Holden (105 not out), Leus du Plooy (30) and Higgins (102 not out) launched a powerful fightback.

By the close, Middlesex had posted 262 for 3, Holden and Higgins sharing an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 183, and had a lead of 143, leaving all three results possible on the final day. Holden had faced 157 balls, hitting 14 fours and a six, while Higgins smashed 13 fours and three sixes in facing 120 deliveries against his former club.

^{Gloucestershire were made to toil in the third innings (Dan Mullan/Getty Images)}

Leicester (day three of four): Northamptonshire 453-7d, Leicestershire 97-2 - Leicestershire trail by 356 runs with eight first-innings wickets in hand

Northamptonshire's hopes of turning a strong position into a first victory of their Vitality County Championship suffered a setback when heavy rain removed any prospect of play on Day Three of their Division Two match against Leicestershire in Leicester.

Heavy rain overnight persisting into the morning left large areas of the playing area under water at the Uptonsteel County Ground and with no break in the weather forecast until the afternoon, umpires Ben Debenham and Jack Shantry called off play for the day almost an hour before the scheduled 11am start time. 

^{There was no play at Headingley (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)}

Headingley (day three of four): Yorkshire 450-5d, Derbyshire 190-3 - Derbyshire are 260 runs behind with seven first-innings wickets remaining

There was no play possible due to rain on day three of the Vitality County Championship clash between Yorkshire and Derbyshire at Headingley today.

Rain arrived in the Leeds area overnight and continued through the morning, with puddles gathered across the outfield.

Umpires Martin Saggers and Hassan Adnan called play off for the day at 12.45pm when it had actually stopped raining. But the amount of water on the outfield left it unplayable.

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