Derbyshire v Durham day 3

Derbyshire, 306 and 185-7 (Madsen 58, Godleman 43, Reece 39, Raine 3-24, Trevaskis 3-71)

Durham 223 (Conners 4-55)

Derbyshire lead by 268 runs

On a day of several interruptions, Derbyshire lost wickets steadily throughout, yet ended in a position where they could push for a win tomorrow – if the weather allows them to do so.

The remaining Durham wicket was taken quickly this morning by Sam Conners, who finished with four wickets in another excellent display. It meant that the Derbyshire openers were quickly exposed to the vagaries of a first session Derby wicket, but the cause was aided when Chris Rushworth limped off after bowling only three overs.

At the other end. Ben Raine was a handful throughout, as he always is but the Derbyshire openers reached an invaluable half century opening partnership before Luis Reece was dismissed.

Billy Godleman chose a tough wicket and important day to graft his way to a season.highest score. It wasn't pretty - Indeed seldom is with the skipper - but the graft was important and appreciated by the county diehards.

At the other end. Wayne Madsen batted as fluently as anyone in the match but his dismissal triggered a mini collapse in which both Raine and Trevaskis bowled with discipline. The home innings looked likely to fall short of expectations, but valuable late runs from Dal (again) and Aitchison took the lead to 268 by the time bad light drove the players off for the final time.

I would be surprised if we batted on tomorrow, but the biggest challenge would appear to be from the weather. A thunderstorm is expected for round about the day's start time and my guess would be that we will struggle for sufficient time to take ten wickets. We would have to bowl poorly for a Durham win to be a consideration, as there remains both variable bounce, considerable movement and turn for bowlers with the requisite skills.

I think we have those bowlers but with my head overruling my heart, I suspect there will not be enough play tomorrow for Derbyshire to force the win that would make the promotion battle very interesting.

Nonetheless, it should not detract from a very good team effort in this game.

Postscript: Five Derbyshire players have now reached a thousand runs for the season in all competitions - Masood, Madsen, Reece, du Plooy and Guest. That is only the 21st time in our history that has happened and the first time since 2006.

It could yet be six, with Anuj Dal within range.

Thanks to David Griffin for the statistic.