All results could be possible heading into Day Four, after Ross Whiteley’s cameo with the bat underpinned Derbyshire’s first innings.
Whiteley scored 54 in his first Championship match for nearly three years and dominated a last wicket stand of 58 with Daryn Dupavillon to carry his team to 362 after Ben Sanderson took 5 for 76.
Wayne Madsen and Matt Lamb also scored half-centuries for the home side but positive batting after tea strengthened Northants position with Emilio Gay’s unbeaten 89 taking the visitors to 195 for 2, a lead of 255.
Warm sunshine and a cloudless sky made it a good day for batting but Derbyshire lost a wicket to the fourth ball of the third morning.
Brooke Guest had to play at a delivery that Sanderson moved away enough to take the outside edge and was caught behind without adding to his overnight score.
Derbyshire almost gifted Northants another wicket in the next over when Lamb took on Luke Proctor’s arm at mid on and was very fortunate not to be run out by a direct hit.
Lamb made the most of that escape by sharing a stand of 82 with Madsen who swung Rob Keogh for six on his way to a 118 ball 50 that contained only two fours.
Lamb dished out the same treatment to Liam Patterson-White before completing his 50 from 90 balls but the second new ball sent the innings into decline.
Sanderson got one to straighten to bowl Lamb before Siddharth Kaul tempted Aneurin Donald into playing at one he could have left and then found some late movement to have Anuj Dal caught at first slip.
Madsen was bowled trying to swing Kaul over mid on and when Sanderson had Zak Chappell and Blair Tickner taken at second slip, Derbyshire looked like conceding a substantial first innings lead.
But Whiteley played impressively, mixing watchful defence with controlled aggression, and with solid support from Dupavillon, kept his side in the game.
Whiteley, who pulled Kaul for six and drove Liam Patterson-White over the long on boundary, farmed the strike astutely while Dupavillon displayed a sound defence to frustrate the visitors.
By the time Proctor ducked one in to trap Whiteley lbw, the deficit had been cut to 60 and Derbyshire had momentum going into the evening session.
That would have increased if Ricardo Vasconcelos had not been dropped at second slip off Tickner in the second over but by the time he was bowled charging wildly at David Lloyd’s off spin, the lead was 150.
Patterson-White took on the short ball until he was caught behind pulling at Chappell but Gay and Karun Nair maintained the tempo against pace and spin in the closing overs.
The pair added 76 from 77 balls to set a platform from where Northants can press on in the morning to give Derbyshire a potential target to chase tomorrow.
Derbyshire all-rounder Ross Whiteley said: “It was nice to contribute a little bit today. It was tricky at times, I think we did well to get close to their score and the game seems to be set up now for potentially a result tomorrow.
“The heavy roller killed the wicket a little bit and made keeping it tight pretty difficult at times. They obviously played well in patches and the gamer’s moving forward and hopefully we can have a decent day on the final day.
“We’ll obviously come hard tomorrow and try and get the game on our side as best we can really.”
