There were no England selectors in Chelmsford but reports of Tymal Mills performance will likely have reached the interested parties. The left-arm quick, whose searing pace at times seems to frazzle his own synapses, claimed 3 for 29 to push Essex closer to a hard-fought victory in their opening Championship match of the season.
In the first innings, Derbyshire's last five wickets fell for 13 runs and Essex will be favourites to complete the job on the final day having set a testing target of 366. Shivnarine Chanderpaul, cricket's equivalent of a roadblock, was unbeaten on 41 at the close but the home bowlers will prepare to veer around him again. The first session and a half of the match aside, when they were bowled out for 94, Essex have performed with the skill and bite to match the abundant talent in their squad.
If Alastair Cook, who extended his stay to 181 from 335 balls in a little over seven hours, is very much England present, then conceivably it was England past and future who were central to Essex's efforts with the ball. Monty Panesar may still have an international career to resurrect, while Mills has amassed an army of boosters who would like to give him a Mitchell Johnson wig and stick-on moustache and they provided the main threat as Derbyshire fought to stay in the game.
Panesar made the first incision, when Stephen Moore toe-ended a pull low to midwicket, but he needed a talking to from the umpires after seeming to direct a few words towards Billy Godleman at the non-striker's end. Panesar was last season given a suspended ban for "potentially threatening and intimidating" behaviour during a match on loan for Essex against Worcestershire and, if he is to remain in England contention, would prefer the scrutiny to be on his bowling.
There was a tangible edge to proceedings, with Godleman the subject of much chatter from his former team-mates, before Mills made the ball do the talking. He had Wayne Madsen caught off the glove down the leg side via a brute of a lifter and then pinned Godleman lbw during a seven-over spell that straddled the tea break. He returned to trap Chesney Hughes lbw as well, following a well-directed short ball with one that was pitched up, though the low bounce and some ponderous footwork took their share of the credit.
It is almost a contractual obligation to refer to Mills as raw and undeniably there is a capacity for the erratic. One delivery, way down the leg side to Chanderpaul, managed to bounce two or three times before reaching James Foster, while Wes Durston was greeted by a throat-high beamer first ball.
However, his losses of control were the exception rather than the norm and his pace tested everyone at the crease, with Chanderpaul lucky to survive a hurried pull to mid-on that Graham Napier couldn't quite get his hands underneath.
"That's probably the best I've seen him bowl in the Championship for us," Foster said. "He bowled very quick, very hostile, got the ball to move in the air. He was very aggressive and that's what Tymal Mills is all about. He's an exceptional talent and I'm really pleased for him because he has worked his backside off."
Derbyshire had already made use of the heavy roller before their first innings - each team can do so only once, providing the home side has made it available, under the new rules - and the presence of some rough outside the right-handers' off stump for Panesar to aim at from the River End along with a little variable bounce should provide enough encouragement for Essex. Foster admitted his side were "in the pound seats" but was cautious of calling a game that has seen several shifts in momentum.
Fifteen wickets fell on the first day and the first two innings only required 101 overs to be bowled. Cook outlasted that on his own second time around, as the flat pitch Keith Fletcher had spied from his perch in the third umpire's box finally rolled over to have its tummy tickled. It was a day for ice cream and sun cream, while Cook continued on in a manner that for Essex and England was all peaches and cream.
Having scored his first hundred in five months - and only his second since May last year - Cook resumed his innings with the intent of a man returning for the fourth and fifth course at dinner after popping out for a cigar. Stretching back to the previous evening, he managed to go 27 overs without scoring a boundary, during which time he progressed from 127 to 152. Reasoning that there was plenty of room left in the game and accompanied by the coltish Ben Foakes and an ever-busy Foster, Cook continued to hoard time in the middle.
Should his new daughter have any trouble sleeping, a video of one of Cook's longer knocks, however invaluable, might do the trick. A top-edged sweep off Durston before lunch hinted at a desire for greater productivity, however, and he was dismissed by the spin of David Wainwright two balls after the interval, playing across the line and getting a leading edge back to the bowler.
Gloucestershire 304 (Tavare 139, Tomlinson 4-68, Abbot 5-67) and 308 for 9 (Marshall 84*, Gidman 72) lead Hampshire 422 (Vince 144, Wheater 82) by 190 runs (Div 2)
New Zealander Hamish Marshall held up Hampshire's victory bid on day three at Bristol by spearheading a battling Gloucestershire recovery.
Marshall ended the day unbeaten on 84 as Gloucestershire recovered from 183 for 7 to reach 308 for 9 in their second innings, with Marshall and seamer David Payne forging a record ninth wicket partnership for the county against Hampshire of 92 at almost five runs an over.
Payne, who hit two fours and a six off successive deliveries during one Michael Carberry over, was dismissed for 44 in the last over of the day as Gloucestershire closed with a 190-run lead.
Alex Gidman's 72 allowed Gloucestershire to stage an initial comeback from 48 for 3, yet they continued losing wickets at regular intervals before Marshall and Payne breathed life into a game that appeared lost.
Hampshire added just five runs to their overnight score, with wicketkeeper Adam Wheater the last man out for 82 as Matt Taylor returned career-best figures of 5 for 75, yet a first innings total of 422 meant Gloucestershire needed a solid start as they set about erasing a 118-run first innings deficit.
But James Tomlinson kept Hampshire on top, removing openers Michael Klinger and Chris Dent to leave Gloucestershire reeling on 6 for 2, before first innings centurion Will Tavare went for 18, trapped lbw by Matt Coles.
Gidman and Marshall repaired some of the damage as Gloucestershire moved to 79 for 3 by lunch, before a 76-run fourth wicket partnership was broken by Sean Irvine, who had Gidman caught behind, ending an innings that included 11 boundaries.
Ervine then struck again, bowling Gidman's younger brother Will, and not even the loss of Wheater with a hand injury for the evening session - Will Smith deputised behind the stumps - could disrupt Hampshire's flow until Marshall and Payne took charge. Six Hampshire bowlers shared the nine wickets to fall, with Ervine, Tomlinson and Coles taking two each.
Nottinghamshire 326 & 184/5 (51.0 ov)
Middlesex 439/9d
Nottinghamshire lead by 71 runs with 5 wickets remaining (Div 1)
Steven Finn
continued his push for an England Test recall by helping Middlesex take control
of their game against Nottinghamshire at Lord's.
Pacemen Finn (3-63) and Tim Murtagh (2-46) then tormented the Notts top order, taking the first five wickets all lbw.
But Chris Read (43 no) and Riki Wessels (20 no) rallied to end the day 184-5.
However, with a lead of only 71, and Middlesex's batsmen in such fine form - Eoin Morgan having made 86 on day two - the hosts go into the final day as favourites to take victory.
England captain Alastair Cook has admitted that places are up for grabs in the national side after their recent slump, and Finn and Robson have surely done their claims no harm, with the latter hoping to join Cook at the top of the order.
The Australia-born opener's innings, which included 22 fours, ended when he edged to slip off Luke Fletcher (2-57), before the hosts declared when Finn fell to Carter (3-74) lbw.
Immediately Finn and Murtagh began to cause problems for the visiting batsmen, with former Australia international Phil Jaques (15) once again struggling and James Taylor falling for 33 to leave Notts 120-5, a lead of just seven for half of their wickets.
Captain Read and Wessels, though, did steady the cause, but will need to dig in on the final day to give their side hope of holding out.
Durham 452 (Mustard 91, Richardson 80) and 178 for 5 (Richardson 53*, Middlebrook 4-39) lead Northamptonshire 378 (Spriegel 97) by 252 runs (Div 1)
Paul Collingwood is faced with picking the right moment to declare 12 months on from a decision that almost had a significant bearing on the title. He may have been unlucky in seeing his side lose to Yorkshire last April but that result with doubtless affect his thinking here.
Durham, who have bolstered a thin squad by signing Kumar Sangakkara for a month before he joins Sri Lanka's tour of England, secured a handy first-innings advantage of 74 and then rolled along at above four-an-over on the third afternoon to give themselves an outside chance of victory.
The wicket remains in good shape and the forecast for day four is again excellent but they took seven wickets in a session-and-a-half earlier in the day and some signs of indifferent bounce suggest Northamptonshire could have to work hard to save this game.
In their third match of last season, Collingwood set Yorkshire 336 to win on the final day at Chester-le-Street and was left to curse the decision as Joe Root made 182 to steer his side to a record chase on the ground. But Root might have been out twice well before his match-winning total and to make over 300 in the final innings at Durham was a statistical anomaly.
Collingwood's decision here will factor in far better conditions for batting than could be envisaged in April, as well as the fact that Northants are not likely to be title rivals later in the season, and that the teams with Championship ambitions will see victory over the regelation favourites as a necessity. Quick runs on the fourth morning should put Durham in a safe position but last April they were seemingly well in the clear too.
"It could be difficult to judge the declaration," Durham's head coach Jon Lewis said. "We'll learn a little about how Northants went about their first innings so we've got a bit more of an idea about their batters and the way they go about scoring. It is quite short in the one corner as well so that's makes it more difficult to judge what runs per over is gettable. We'll need a few more because they scored quite quickly in the first innings."
Collingwood showed a positive intent by helping Durham to press on late in the day. His innings featured consecutive pulls for four off Steven Crook and a six over long-on off James Middlebrook, who had initially stemmed Durham's progress with three wickets and a catch at slip. He added Collingwood's wicket shortly before the close.
Middlebrook's catch gave Northants an early strike and a wicket for Maurice Chambers, who bounded up the hill in a quick opening five over spell where he went for only 13 and removed Mark Stoneman for 1; a rare double failure for Stoneman, Durham's second-leading run scorer in 2013.
Their leading run scorer last year was Scott Borthwick. If he has an international future, his batting is most likely to earn him selection. His provided some further evidence why that is likely on the third day at Wantage Road with an indifferent spell with the ball and an effective innings with the bat.
Borthwick's Test debut came almost by default in Sydney after Graeme Swann had abdicated and all confidence in Monty Panesar was lost but he was given a role he could be asked to fulfil against Sri Lanka in June as a slow option alongside four seamers. Moeen Ali is his greatest rival.
In such a position, Borthwick's batting would need to justify selection. He made over 1000 runs in the Championship last season at No. 3 with two of his three centuries coming at Chester-le-Street. He also topped the Durham averages. For England Lions in Sri Lanka, he was back down the order and had some success with the bat and a handful of wickets.
Here he played a punchy innings of 47 in 68 balls as Durham achieved a healthy scoring rate. He struck four boundaries in seven balls shortly after tea but to the second ball he faced of Middlebrook's new spell, rocked back to cut and edged behind.
His earlier spell with the ball featured, like the first innings, a full toss outside off to start, and two other long hops which were cut for four by Steven Crook. But in-between he flighted the ball nicely, lured Rob Newton to drive off an edge to slip and had Matt Spriegel dropped at short leg. He can certainly take wickets and could yet help Durham to victory on day four.
Had Spriegel been taken on 33, Northants could have been following on before the close but instead he took advantage of the miss to make only his second first-class fifty for Northants, the county he joined from Surrey at the end of the 2012 season.
He has mainly been used in one-day cricket and would not have played in this match but for injuries to David Sales and Rob Keogh but he proved his ability against the red ball and steered his side to a fourth batting point, reduced the deficit below a hundred and took some more overs out of the game.
But Spriegel too suffered from centuryphobia - being the eighth player to pass fifty in the match and the eighth player not to make three figures. Michael Richardson could have another go on day four after going to an 85-ball half-century in the last hour of play.
Somerset 530 for 9 (Myburgh 91, Jones 75, Gregory 69, Plunkett 4-108) lead Yorkshire 450 (Lyth 85, Rashid 108) by 80 runs (Div 1)
Johann Myburgh has been around the cricketing houses. He has played in South Africa and in New Zealand, where, with Canterbury, he was coached by Dave Nosworthy, and has had stints with Hampshire and Durham.
At the age of 33, he does not represent Somerset's future. He could also be said to be keeping George Dockrell and Max Waller, the county's young and promising spinners, out of the side.
In fairness, this is not necessarily a like for like selection, in that Myburgh is effectively a batsman who bowls - rather flat off breaks. And it is hard to quibble with his selection - by the aforementioned Nosworthy as well as Marcus Trescothick - for this match.
He made 91 on what, even after all the winter rain, is an unmarked and rather lifeless pitch, in addition to having bowled 21 overs and taken a couple of wickets in Yorkshire's first innings.
There was a little turn on this, the third day, so we should see more of him when Yorkshire bat again.
Somerset responded to Yorkshire's total of 450 by taking a first innings lead of 80, which was no mean achievement given that Trescothick and Nick Compton contributed little with the bat.
Instead, James Hildreth made 67, Craig Kieswetter 63 and Lewis Gregory, who flung the bat from the first ball he faced, 69, his career-best score. Myburgh, however, came up with the innings of the day.
He is a squat man, has a decent first-class average (43.10) and is quick to spot a gap in the field. This being Taunton, he will find the ball comes onto the bat and can disappear speedily off it.
While Kieswetter was keen to go for the more expansive shots - a pulled six off Jack Brooks and a lofted drive into the Ian Botham Stand - Myburgh, the elder brother, incidentally, of Stephan Myburgh of Netherlands fame, was more circumspect.
It was his highest score in England, made with ten fours. "I am not too much of a stats guy but it is always disappointing not to score a century," he admitted. "I never felt finished with the game after I left Hampshire and Durham - I had only a short contract with one, predominantly in white ball cricket, and at Southampton things just didn't work out. But I have always believed in the ability I was given."
Before all that, Alviro Petersen had gone in Kane Williamson's first over, caught behind off what looked to be an arm ball, and Hildreth had reached 11,000 runs in first-class cricket before he was leg before aiming to swipe Brooks to leg. Kieswetter, who added 112 with Myburgh and who struck seven fours and two sixes, was looking set for a first century of the season - a riposte to those who feel Somerset should have retained Jos Buttler - when he was taken at slip off Williamson.
On the boundary, Dickie Bird, now Yorkshire's president, was attracting as much interest as the cricket.
He did not turn down a request for an autograph or an interview even after one had been technologically bungled. Not that Botham would have thanked him for not remembering, standing as he was in the Botham Stand, the identity of England's leading wicket taker.
There is a boyish enthusiasm for the game, and for the people he encounters all day, that remains delightful to observe.
Warwickshire 87 & 471
Sussex 229 & 274/2 (69.4 ov)
Sussex require another 56 runs with 8 wickets remaining (Div 1)
Sussex are on
the verge of victory at Edgbaston, despite Ian Bell's unbeaten 189 for
Warwickshire.
The Bears were eventually bowled out for 471, with Jeetan Patel hitting 74,
although their first-innings total of 87 left them with a tough task. Sussex closed on 273-2 with Ed Joyce unbeaten on 125 while opener Luke Wells (57) and Michael Yardy (28) were the two batsman to lose their wickets.
They require another 57 runs on day four with eight wickets remaining.
Joyce's ton came off 172 balls in 240 minutes with Rory Hamilton-Brown joining him at the crease and two shy of his half century.
Meanwhile, Warwickshire have confirmed Rikki Clarke sustained a broken finger when batting on Monday evening.
Worcestershire 224 & 270
Kent 229 & 51/3 (22.3 ov)
Kent require another 215 runs with 7 wickets remaining (Div 2)
Doug Bollinger
took a five-for on debut but Kent look set to fall to defeat against his former
club Worcestershire.
Bollinger's back
- Doug Bollinger took 16 wickets in seven Championship appearances in his season with Worcestershire in 2007
Ben Cox's career-best 89 helped the home side to 270 all
out before Gareth Andrew trapped Kent's Sam Northeast lbw with the third ball of
the innings.
Making his first appearance at New Road since his season with Worcestershire in 2007, Australian Test paceman Bolllinger claimed match figures of 7-81.
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