Lancashire v Derbyshire day 3

Lancashire 351 and 147-6 (Harris 58*, Coughlin 35*, Chappell 3-43, Abbas 2-26)

Derbyshire 374 (Guest 83, Andersson 54, Reece 36, Coughlin 4-79, Stanley 3-79)

Lancashire lead by 124 runs

It was a fascinating day's cricket at Old Trafford, with Derbyshire ending it with a chance of winning a remarkable game. 

The day featured some high-quality seam bowling on both sides. The work of Anderson and Stanley after lunch today was as good as one would wish to see, with both probing and causing great difficulty for the batters. Stanley has something about him and has worked up a good pace in this match, while Anderson still looks like he has a trick or two up his sleeve.

Later, Mohammad Abbas produced his best spell so far for the county, while Zak Chappell offered a searing spell of his own, in taking three quick wickets to rip apart the Lancashire second innings. 

It was breathtaking stuff and I was racking my brains to think of the last time I saw a Derbyshire attack working so cohesively as a unit. They all applied pressure, wasted very few deliveries and were backed up by some splendid fielding and catching. Is this the effect of our new bowling coach, Chris Wright, or is it the influence of Mohammad Abbas and Shoaib Bashir? Perhaps a combination of both, but Lancashire were put under severe pressure. 

While Marcus Harris remains, the result of the game will be in the balance. He offers excellent value as an overseas player and has twice here been a thorn in Derbyshire sides. He simply plays each ball on its merits and seems unflappable at this level.

Earlier, in a frustrating morning session, players were on and off regularly and it enabled the main Lancashire bowlers to stay fresh. Both Guest and Andersson completed fine innings and Reece offered some late impetus to give Derbyshire a slender, yet important lead. By the time the home side reached parity, they were remarkably four wickets down. The dangerous Wells got an unplayable ball from Abbas, while Bohannon was well pouched by Jewell at slip, who just got his fingers under the ball as it dropped. 

Chappell removed Singh with a juggling act worthy of the stage, before Bashir held a sharp chance to remove Jones. When Hurst played on, there was an outside chance of an unexpected finish tonight, but Harris stood firm and with good support from Hartley and Coughlin ensured that the game would go into the fourth day. The latter has had a good debut for Lancashire, scoring important runs and taking four wickets today.

My only criticism is that things got a little ragged towards the end. There were poor runs and extras conceded, that could become important tomorrow. Hopefully not.

The result could yet go either way. Derbyshire will not want to chase much more than 200, although there are still not too many demons in the pitch for those wanting to bat properly. Individual error cost a few their wickets today and if Derbyshire can tackle the fourth day as they have done most of the previous three, a memorable win could be theirs tomorrow. 

It would lay down a marker to the rest of the division and boost their confidence at the same time, before a chance to regroup in the week off during the next round of fixtures.

Whatever happens, regardless of the rain and cold, this has been an excellent game of cricket. 

May the best team win...