Lancashire's Division One safety will likely be decided by the outcome of Durham's visit to Hampshire after the Red Rose endured another tough day at Edgbaston against fellow relegation contenders Warwickshire.
The visitors slumped to 28/3, chasing a fourth-innings target of 347, after Warwickshire declared their second innings on 279/7. Warwickshire, who have not won at home all season in four-day cricket, look well set to end that drought after claiming three late wickets in 18 overs before close of play, while Lancashire are on course to end the season without a win away from Old Trafford in the County Championship.
Lancashire, who are hoping to avoid the ignominy of three successive relegations, will be hoping that Durham can continue their impressive recovery against Hampshire at Southampton, with either a draw or a Durham win preventing the Red Rose from joining Nottinghamshire in the second division.
After avoiding the follow-on, Durham rallied to fall 50 runs short of Hampshire's first-innings total of 411, with Michael Richardson left stranded on 99 not out when his side were eventually bowled out for 361. Hampshire then fell to 176/7 in their second innings attempting to set Durham a target on the final day, with the hosts leading by 226 runs at the Ageas Bowl.
Warwickshire resumed on 12/0, having already extended their first-innings lead from 67 to 79 on the second evening, with Tom Bailey (1-62) striking an early breakthrough in the fourth over of the day when he had Alex Mellor (6) out lbw offering no shot. Ian Westwood and Jonathan Trott recovered from this early blip by recording only the second fifty-partnership of the match, as Warwickshire started to take their lead into a dangerous territory for Lancashire, who were dismissed for 152 in their first innings.
Two boundaries in the space of three balls from Trott (42) brought up the fifty-partnership in just 67 deliveries, before Jordan Clark (1-30) ended their stand with his fourth ball of the day. Overnight batsman Westwood departed for 34 in the same way as his opening partner, offering no stroke to Clark having been hit on the knee role in front of middle stump, as Warwickshire progressed to 74/2.
Arron Lilley then had Trott bowled with the second ball of his spell in the final over before lunch, ripping the ball between bat and pad to knock out the off-stump. Regular boundaries for Ian Bell and Sam Hain ensured that Warwickshire continued to build a sizeable lead, as they added a further 38 runs for the fourth wicket.
Kyle Jarvis (1-50) broke the partnership when he had Bell bowled for 31, but with multiple Warwickshire batsman making contributions, Lancashire were facing a daunting prospect when their turn to bat arrived. Lilley (3-56) trapped Hain lbw for 30, as another of Warwickshire's batsmen failed to offer a shot, before Rikki Clarke was also struck on the pad by Simon Kerrigan (1-55) for 20.
Keith Barker (23) handed Lilley his third victim when he became the fifth lbw casualty of the innings, the final wicket to fall in Warwickshire's second innings at 234/7. Tim Ambrose top-scored for Warwickshire with an unbeaten 59, reaching his half-century in 103 balls, as he found solid company in Jeetan Patel. The Kiwi off-spinner enjoyed a late cameo of 23, hitting both Lancashire spinners for straight sixes after Steven Croft failed to gather the ball for a stumping off Lilley.
This late hitting allowed Warwickshire to declare on 279/7 with a lead of 346 runs and Lancashire's efforts before close of play meant that the hosts would enter the fourth day with a strong chance of victory. Rob Jones fell in the third over of the run-chase when he was wrapped on the pads by Barker (1-11) and Lancashire slipped to 26/3 in the closing stages of the day when Luke Procter (7) and Karl Brown (4) followed to a buoyant Warwickshire bowling attack.
Patel (1-13) had Procter lbw in the tenth over and Brown recorded another single-figure score, edging behind to Ambrose off Chris Wright (1-2). Lancashire will start the final day of the season on 28/3, with Haseeb Hameed (11*) and nightwatchman Simon Kerrigan (0*) at the crease, but the Red Rose will be depending on Durham to do them a favour.
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