England’s Ollie Pope and Dan Lawrence both scored centuries as Surrey fought back to head into day four of their Rothesay County Championship game against Sussex at Hove with a draw the most likely result.

Dom Sibley and Pope, who had resumed at 90-1, put on 179 for the second wicket before Sibley went caught and bowled by James Coles for 82, and Pope soon followed for 103 with the score on 237-3.

However, Lawrence, who ended the day on 117 not out, and Ben Foakes, unbeaten on 47, took up the baton to steer their side to 390-3 by stumps, 45 runs behind.

Fergus O’Neill and Josh Tongue bowled Division One leaders Nottinghamshire into a commanding position in their top-of-the-table clash with Warwickshire.

The pair took two second innings wickets each to leave the hosts, who were skittled for just 93 first time out, on 163-6 and 111 runs in arrears heading into the final day at Edgbaston.

Skipper Haseeb Hameed had earlier carried his bat for an unbeaten 138 as Notts added 163 runs to their overnight total of 204-5, with Michael Booth claiming 5-90 to leave the home side trailing by 284 runs.

Sean Dickson and Tom Lammonby frustrated Hampshire to send Somerset into the final day at Southampton still trailing by 49.

The pair staged an unbroken second-wicket stand of 53 to leave their side on 103-1 after Nick Gubbins and Liam Dawson had taken their overnight scores to 82 and 72 respectively as the home side established a 152-run first innings lead with a total of 336, Migael Pretorius mopping up the tail to finish with 5-64.

Ben Raine and Matthew Potts kept Durham in the hunt for a first victory of the season as they claimed two wickets apiece to leave Yorkshire on 132-4, just 12 runs ahead.

Raine trapped openers Adam Lyth and Finlay Bean in front before Potts claimed the wickets of James Wharton and Dawid Malan after skipper Alex Lees’ 172 and 152 from Emilio Gay had seen the hosts make 427 all out at Chester-le-Street.

Jamie Porter took three second-innings wickets for 36 as Essex bowled themselves to the brink of victory over Worcestershire at Chelmsford.

Kashif Ali’s 50 and 36 from skipper Brett D’Oliveira kept the visitors in with a chance after they had been set 295 for victory, but wickets fell at regular intervals to dent their chances of a maiden win of the campaign.

Kent dismissed for 393 at Canterbury

Ben Compton’s 178 and a half-century from Grant Stewart left Division Two leaders Kent with a 79-run first innings deficit as they were dismissed for 393 at Canterbury.

Visitors Gloucestershire had added a further 112 for the loss of openers Cameron Bancroft and Ben Charlesworth when rain intervened.

Ian Holland and Logan van Beek ripped through the Lancashire top order as Leicestershire blasted their way towards victory at Old Trafford.

After opener Rehan Ahmed had gone for 100 and skipper Peter Handscomb had finished unbeaten on 142 from a total of 491-8 declared, Holland removed opener Keaton Jennings and number three Anderson Phillip and Van Beek accounted for Michael Jones to reduce the visitors to 16-3, still 212 adrift.

Derbyshire will take a nine-run lead into the final day of their clash with Northamptonshire at the County Ground after half-centuries from Caleb Jewell and captain Wayne Madsen kept them in the hunt.

Skipper Luke Proctor’s 150 and 105 from Saif Zaib looked to have left Northants in control as they declared on 500-8 with a first innings lead of 193, but the hosts had reached 202-3 by the time the umpires called it a day.

Glamorgan face a final-day battle to avoid defeat at Lord’s, with the visitors needing another 85 runs to make Middlesex bat again having already lost five second-innings wickets.

Leus du Plooy and Ben Geddes made 89 and 83 respectively as the hosts declared on 470-9 to increase their side’s advantage to 271, and although openers Zain-ul-Hassan and Eddie Byrom put on 93 for the first wicket, the Welsh side were reduced to 186-5 by the close with Toby Roland-Jones taking 2-50.