Durham v Derbyshire day 3

Durham 475 and 175-2 (Lees 78*, Bedingham 53*)

Derbyshire 267 (Madsen 76, Hosein 63, Rushworth 6-58) and 10-0

Derbyshire need 374 to win

I thought Derbyshire battled hard to stay in the game this morning, after Wayne Madsen got one that 'popped' on a foothold. Brooke Guest and Harvey Hosein then showed good technique and plenty of fight in their stand that lasted almost until lunch, before the former was caught behind.

Chris Rushworth has looked in a class of his own in this game and showed the merits of having a bowler of experience on such a wicket. When he bowled there was danger in every delivery, while at the other end, the going appeared to be easier.

Potts bowled Fynn Hudson-Prentice with another grubber and the tail didn't last long, Hosein the last man out for his fourth successive well-constructed fifty (and first dismissal in that time).

I never thought Durham would enforce the follow on and potentially bat last on a pitch of variable bounce, but I was surprised they showed no real urgency in their second innings. Maybe they think they can take ten wickets easily tomorrow and maybe they will, but their innings mirrored our second against Worcestershire, scoring runs but not especially quickly and getting a 400 lead and 15 overs at the opposition. I'm not sure how Bedingham survived an early lbw against Critchley, but he and Lees batted without any major alarms thereafter, which gives hope ahead of the final innings.

Tom Wood and Luis Reece saw it through to stumps intact and the task tomorrow is clear. Bat, bat and bat some more.

They know the odd one will grub through, but task one is to see off Rushworth's opening burst. While the others are decent bowlers, there is no real variety in the attack and they might regret the absence of Liam Trevaskis on the last afternoon.

We'll see soon enough. I entertain no hopes of a win, but a draw would do just fine.