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For those of you familiar with the Rocky films, Sylvester Stallone's character often found himself against the ropes (quite literally) in his cinematic fights.

Yet, Balboa usually found a way to triumph and that is the scenario young Rocky Flintoff faces for Lancashire today.

He resumes on 57 not out - his maiden half-century in Championship cricket - with the Red Rose 120-6 in pursuit of 248.

Gloucestershire are heavy favourites to get the four wickets they need to win this match between the bottom two, but Rocky would never have made films two, three and beyond if he had not put up such a fight against Apollo Creed.

Surrey began this round uncomfortably placed in sixth position and only slightly above the relegation spots.

There have been a few heart-in-mouth moments in this game, where Sussex have built up a solid first innings and bowled well on a slow surface to reduce Surrey to 47-3 and 251-7.

Adam Thomas (40*) and Matt Fisher (26*) rallied in gloomy conditions against the new ball in an unbroken stand of 43 for the eighth wicket.

We have seen movement off the pitch with the new ball and turn for the spinners for much of the game.

Surrey are perhaps one good session of play away from making this game safe. As it stands a gap of 99 is too large to rest easy.

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Kent captain Daniel Bell-Drummond wants his side to bat the day as their County Championship Division Two match against Derbyshire at the County Ground concludes.

Kent, who have dropped to third in the table after Northamptonshire beat Worcestershire, require a sizeable 431 runs on the final day to claim victory, while Derbyshire need 10 wickets.

Whether chasing down the substantial target is feasible or not as the day wears on, Bell-Drummond expects his teammates to stand up to the task and avoid defeat if victory is out of the question.

"We've just got to get through that first session and take it from there," Bell-Drummond said. "Obviously 430 is a heck of a long way away and with how the pitch has been playing in periods of this game we've just got to make sure that we're on it and there's a clear objective to get away unscathed.

"Plan A is to get through the day. We are in a very good position in the table and with that comes pressure so there's no doubt there's a lot of things riding on it but we're ready for that and as I say we've got a good batting line up and we should hopefully be able to deal with what's to come."

Our man in situ tells us there was rain in the Manchester area last night.

But, according to the BBC Weather website, we have a mainly dry and settled day ahead, but with one or two showers around in the west during the morning.

To quote former BBC Head of Values Ian Fletcher: "So that's all good."

As Ian's previous jobs have also included overseeing the delivery of London 2012 and this summer's World Cup, he clearly likes sport - maybe the ECB should offer him a top role at Lord's?

Division One

Nottinghamshire 377 & 104 v Hampshire 304 & 61-6

Hampshire need another 117 to win with four wickets standing

Sussex 393 v Surrey 294-7

Surrey trail by 99 runs with three wickets standing

Division Two

Derbyshire 300 & 352-8 dec v Kent 219 & 3-0

Kent need another 431 to win with 10 wickets standing

Durham 252 & 374 v Middlesex 203 & 55-2

Middlesex need another 369 to win with eight wickets standing

Lancashire 134 & 120-6 v Gloucestershire 212 & 169

Lancashire need another 128 to win with four wickets standing

---Thursday's results---

Leicestershire 157 & 145 v Somerset 363 & 316-5 dec

Somerset won by 377 runs

Yorkshire 390 v Essex 171 & 113

Yorkshire won by an innings and 106 runs

Worcestershire 200 & 182 v Northamptonshire 289 & 96-4

Northants won by six wickets

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Is this the day that Durham confirm promotion back to Division One for 2027?

Victory over Middlesex at the Riverside will make it certain and they are certainly looking good with the visitors already two down, chasing a distant target of 424.

Elsewhere, Notts are under pressure to wrap up a win over Hampshire to keep themselves firmly in the title race, and there are three other games still alive from the nine that began on Tuesday.

Welcome to our coverage. Play starts at 10:30.