County Championship: Yorkshire v Durham – Tykes on course for safety

Yorkshire are closing in on Division One survival in the County Championship, but Durham will not be quite sure of the size of their task heading into day four at Headingley.

Should Hampshire – 148-9, chasing 181 to beat Surrey at the Utilita Bowl – lose, seventh-placed Yorkshire would be safe no matter the result here and Durham would also stay up if the game is drawn.

Should Hampshire win – they are eighth in the table – Yorkshire would need to draw , but Durham would need a miracle victory to get out of trouble.

Yorkshire started a weather-affected third day on 314-5 and advanced to 465-9 in the 51 overs possible, with George Hill compiling a skilful season’s best 88.

Bad light interrupted play on three occasions at Headingley and no play was possible beyond 3.25pm.

Hill impressively supplemented Indian batter Mayank Agarwal’s superb 175 on day two with his fourth fifty of a season which has seen him excel with the ball, claiming 47 Championship wickets.

He shared in half-century stands with fellow all-rounder Matthew Revis and Jordan Thompson, the latter contributing an unbeaten 44.

The morning session was a relatively quiet affair, with Yorkshire advancing from 314-5 overnight to 365-7.

Ben Raine, who has been excellent with 4-71 from 33 overs broke a sixth-wicket stand of 50 between Revis (38) and Hill.

Revis, crowned Yorkshire’s members’ player of the year at the end of day two, was trapped lbw by an in-ducker before Dom Bess pulled Matthew Potts to deep backward square-leg and was caught.

Hill was a calming presence for Yorkshire as they stretched their lead, in all hitting 14 fours in 175 balls and moved to 50 off 105 balls shortly before the hosts reached 400.

Thompson was more expansive, whipping Will Rhodes over deep midwicket for six, and Durham’s need for wickets was becoming more desperate.

Hill did fall short of what would have been his season’s first century when bowled trying to attack the leg-spin of Shafiqullah Ghafari, but Yorkshire’s lead by then was 97 at 443-8.

Hill and Thompson had shared an eighth-wicket 86, the latter all-rounder playing his last match before a winter move to Warwickshire.

Matt Milnes edged to slip to give Ghafari a fourth wicket before the third bad light stoppage proved to be the last.

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