County Championship Division One - day three (close)

Essex 517-5 dec & 17-2 v Somerset 407

TWO late wickets gave Somerset hope of springing an unlikely victory going into the final day of their day/night County Championship clash against Essex in Chelmsford.

The hosts closed on 17-2, a lead of 127, after James Hildreth had earlier made 78 to help Somerset avoid the follow-on. 

The 33-year-old was the new batsman when play resumed at 2pm with Somerset on 140-2, George Bartlett having fallen to the final ball of the second day, and he soon lost the company of Eddie Byrom.

The youngster had added just a single to his overnight score of 53 when he edged Jamie Porter behind, continuing a theme from last season whereby solid starts were not turned into match-defining knocks; Byrom is certainly showing enough promise to suggest a big score is round the corner, however.

Tom Abell joined Hildreth and the pair added 92 for the fourth wicket either side of lunch/dinner (which comes at 4pm in these day/night matches), with the latter bringing up his half-century from 80 balls.

Abell fell shortly after the interval for 41 and the skipper will be disappointed with the manner of his dismissal, edging a short and wide Ravi Bopara delivery behind when well set.

Hildreth - who passed 500 Championship runs for the season early in his innings - added 38 runs with fellow stalwart Peter Trego and took his score to 78 before being trapped lbw by the spin of Simon Harmer, leaving Somerset 280-5.

Trego's first Championship innings of the summer was ended on 39 as he was bowled by Simon Harmer, but Lewis Gregory and Dom Bess took Somerset past 350 and to another batting point, though the visitors missed out on the maximum as they fell comfortably short of making 400 inside 110 overs.

Both fell in quick succession to short balls from Neil Wagner, Bess (35) edging behind and Gregory (22) playing an ugly shot straight to third man with Somerset still seven short of avoiding the follow-on.

Jamie Overton decided attack was the best form of defence and took on Wagner's short stuff, ensuring Essex would have to bat again in the process.

Overton was the last man out for 35, Josh Davey having been caught at short leg for 13, as Somerset were dismissed for 407 - conceding a first-innings deficit of 110 and setting up a nine-over spell at the hosts before the close.

Somerset could not have asked for a better start with the ball, as Davey removed Tom Westley for a duck before Lewis Gregory trapped Michael Pepper (1) to leave the hosts 1-2.

Nick Browne (5*) and Ravie Bopara (11*) and, with Alastair Cook absent this evening due to illness, Somerset will go into the final day with a renewed confidence that this game could yet turn out in something other than the bore draw it had looked like becoming.

The vast majority of this match has seen the bat dominate the ball, however, and that, along with the quality of the pink Kookaburra ball being called into question and crowds dwindling as the game enters the evening, calls into question the wisdom of the day/night Championship experiment.

The timing of it is certainly odd, clashing as it does with both the longest days of the year (meaning floodlights, and the pink ball, are largely redundant anyway) and the World Cup.

The final session tomorrow begins at the same time as England v Belgium - if this match is drifting towards a draw, as is still very much possible, the crowd is likely to all but fulfil the 'one man and his dog' stereotype, which is no good for Championship cricket and surely the opposite of what this experiment was set up to achieve.