LV= COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP, DIVISION TWO, The Oval:
Close, day three: Surrey 322 and 182-4, Northants 376
Northants 6pts, Surrey 5pts
Match scorecard

James Middlebrook completed his first century for Northants as the visitors set up a potential winning platform against Surrey at The Oval.

Middlebrook hit 103 in his side's 376 to earn a 54-run first-innings lead.

Northants then captured four Surrey wickets by the close of the third day as the home side reached 182-4 - a relatively slender lead of 128.

Paceman Lee Daggett took two of the Surrey wickets as Northants go into the final day with the advantage.

Winter recruit Zander de Bruyn, who remains unbeaten on 28, held a shaky Surrey batting performance together - and much may now depend on the South African, who just missed out on a championship winner's medal with Somerset last summer.

But Surrey may still come to regret allowing Northants to wriggle off the hook at 163-7 the previous day.

After sharing a county record eighth-wicket stand worth 179 in 58 overs with his skipper Andrew Hall - beating the 164 put on by David Ripley and Nick Cook against Lancashire at Old Trafford in 1987 - Yorkshireman Middlebrook eventually needed the help of last man Daggett to post the fifth first-class century of his career.

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