Durham 227 and 213 for 8 (Jones 56, Lees 38, Fisher 4-56, Thompson 3-40) require 33 runs to beat Yorkshire 254 and 218 (Raine 4-36, Potts 4-61)
Yorkshire have not won a Championship match for 17 matches. The 18th is in abeyance after they claimed the extra half-hour, but failed to force victory against the leaders Durham at Chester-le-Street. Durham begin the final day needing 33 runs with two wickets remaining. A riveting match remains in the balance.
This sounds appallingly like hindsight, but Yorkshire would have been better leaving the last two wickets until the morning when the weather is overcast and the ball might swing. Their impatience to finish the job was understandable, but their seam attack (or at least those seamers the skipper Shan Masood entirely trusted) was weary, the sun was shining (no, really, it was) and their impetus was already on the wane.
Durham added another 18 in nine overs as Ben Raine and Matthew Potts resisted gamely. Durham need a win to stay top of Division Two and their supporters talk proudly of a side in good shape; Yorkshire need a win to help them block out the perpetual grumbling from the outer and convince themselves that promotion is a realisable objective. Both sides have been a credit to Division Two.
To add to the uncertainty, Brydon Carse will walk out at No.11, if needed, after having scans on a "trunk injury" that restricted him to only five overs in Yorkshire's second innings. The results of those are not yet known. Carse, fully fit, would be a danger. Carse, severely restricted, might be impotent. Nobody really knows.
Durham's target was 246, a tall order that had sizeable chips removed from it during a new-ball assault by Alex Lees who made 38 from 37 balls, driving in carefree fashion as Matthew Fisher and Jordan Thompson began timidly and inaccurately as if a long run without success had crept into their consciousness. A failed to attempt to change the ball after 3.5 overs summed up their state of mind as there was little swing to be had.
Masood dealt with the situation shrewdly, withdrawing Fisher from the attack after two overs, giving him time to reflect and reintroducing him at the Lumley Castle End. If the ball was not swinging, there was soon further confirmation that it would occasionally keep low as Fisher seamed one through Lees' gaping gap.
Lees dealt with, Durham abruptly slowed as Michael Jones took the long view. Scott Borthwick clipped Thompson to short midwicket, but Jones gradually expanded his range, Mickey Edwards looked too leaky for such a tight match on a surface where accuracy was essential and, at 126 for 2, Durham were edging the match as a series of borderline lbw shouts did not fall Yorkshire's way.
Then came a random moment to shift the emphasis. Bess' career has stalled at Yorkshire, not helped by the county's appetite for internecine strife. Runs have eluded him and his bowling average is in the mid-40s. Unsurprisingly, he had struggled to hide his disfavour as several lbw decisions did not fall his way. Then he was clunked on the knee when Graham Clark pulled Matthew Revis fiercely into the ground and limped off with four overs to his name, returning later to sound effect.
Masood was forced to return to Hill, who was carrying an onerous responsibility on his slender frame. It immediately paid dividends as David Bedingham was held by Jonny Bairstow, an excellent one-handed scoop as the ball died in front of him.
Fisher's return came with a sense that the game could be turned. So it was as he took wickets in three successive overs: Ollie Robinson's flashing drive flying to first slip, Jones falling lbw by virtue of the totting-up procedure, and Bas de Leede joining the growing list of bowlers to chop on.
If there was ever a time for Jordan Thompson to live up to his somewhat optimistic nickname of "the man who makes things happen" it had arrived and he added two in two as Graham Clark also dragged on and Axar Patel, who had tormented Yorkshire in the first innings with some last-man tomfoolery, losing his magic upon his promotion to No.9 and immediately falling lbw.
Bess deserves credit for returning later, ice and painkillers applied, and maintaining an excellent holding operation against admittedly obsessive Durham defending. Against tiring bowlers, in bright sunshine, Durham might have been better giving it a go. But they will ridicule that notion if they steal the game in the morning.
Yorkshire had been evenly placed at the start of the day - their closure at 91 for 3 giving them a lead of 118. With Malan and Bairstow at the crease - a rare Championship alliance between two England internationals - they had a chance to kill the game. Just as it seemed they might, Ben Raine dismissed both in successive overs courtesy of excellent catches by Ollie Robinson.
Ollie Robinson is quite an upgrade for Durham, released by Kent because the presence of Sam Billings and Jordan Cox meant limited opportunities. He sprang a long way to his left when Malan chased a wide one and then even further to his right when Bairstow edged an attempted drive. Both had scrapped for around two-and-a-half hours, but the first half-century of the match was still awaited.
That fell to Hill, who continued an excellent all-round match with 51 from 52 balls until Potts had him caught at second slip with a wide outswinger on the stroke of lunch. A more graceful player than when he first appeared in the side, he made light of the introduction of spin, in the shape of Patel, and played Potts in an assured fashion as anybody.
Whatever the outcome, Yorkshire could recognise his growing importance by immediately capping him. They can't afford it, but then they can't afford to turn the lights on.
