Former Australia Test captain Ricky Ponting has reached another milestone in his career surpassing the 24,000-run mark in his final first-class match to give Surrey hope of eking out a draw in their County Championship Division One clash against Nottinghamshire at the Kia Oval.
Ponting reaches another milestone
Ponting needed 19 more runs to reach the landmark, which includes 13,378 runs in Tests, and did so with a cut single to the sweeper on the cover boundary before driving Samit Patel through mid-off for four.
He batted a shade over two hours and was on 41 not out at the close, with an unbeaten third-wicket stand of 97 alongside Arun Harinath (69 not out) helping the hosts to 2-186.
While they still trail Nottinghamshire by 26 runs, Surrey will be confident of avoiding defeat on the final day on Thursday.
Sussex went to the top of the table after a nine-wicket hammering of Somerset inside two and a half days at Taunton.
The hosts were just 78 runs ahead with three wickets remaining at the start of the day and failed to amount any lower order resistance as they were all out within the first half hour of play.
Stand-in captain Chris Nash led the way with an unbeaten 61 as Sussex chased down a meagre victory target of 91 just before the lunch break for the loss of just one wicket.
The emphatic win means the south coast county are now 15 points clear of Yorkshire, who have a game in hand.
Durham will move into second place on Thursday if they complete a highly-probable victory over Derbyshire at Chester-le-Street.
Chasing 472, Derbyshire closed on 7-181, with only West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul (76) and wicketkeeper Tom Poynton (56no) knuckling down.
Chris Rushworth was the pick of the bowlers with 3-33 for Durham, who had earlier declared on 9-331 after opener Keaton Jennings scored his first championship century before he was eighth man out for 123.
A superb 150 from Adam Voges could not prevent Middlesex from following on against defending champions Warwickshire at Uxbridge.
The Australian thumped 17 fours and a six as Middlesex were all out for 309 - a first-innings deficit of 177 - before they then closed on 5-147 second time around, with Voges unbeaten on 15.
In Division Two, Simon Katich's superb double century put Lancashire on the front foot in their top-of-the-table clash with leaders Northamptonshire at Wantage Road.
The former Australia batsman made exactly 200 before he was last man out as the Red Rose made 442, with Northants on 4-123 at the close, still trailing by nine runs.
Marcus North took three wickets as Glamorgan looked to force a result against Hampshire at Cardiff.
After declaring on 6-300 - with opener Gareth Rees completing his hundred - despite a first-innings deficit of 41, North picked up three scalps as Hampshire limped to 8-166 before the close of play.
Chris Dent's 153 and Alex Gidman's unbeaten 145 helped Gloucestershire to 3-348 after they had won the toss on the opening day of their encounter with Kent at Cheltenham.