Coles keeps Sussex in command as he stars with bat and ball

Essex look to Critchley for final-day salvation as they resume needing an unlikely 131 more to win

Essex 177 (Allison 56, Crocombe 5-39) and 197 for 7 (Critchley 63*, Coles 3-65) trail Sussex 275 (Leaning 60, Porter 4-44) and 230 (Coles 79, Zaman 4-51, Harmer 4-96) by 131 runs

James Coles carried Sussex to the brink of victory with an all-round performance that leaves them requiring just three wickets on the final day at Chelmsford while Essex need another 132 runs to pull off an unlikely victory.

The 22-year-old, who bats right-handed and spins the ball with his left, showed just why England had called him into the white-ball squad to play three T20I games against Sri Lanka later this month.

He rediscovered his batting touch with a battling 79 and then continued his sorcery with the ball. His 3 for 7 in seven overs in Essex's first innings had been overshadowed by Henry Crocombe's hat-trick, but he re-emerged into the limelight to finish day three of the Rothesay County Championship match with figures of 3 for 65. When bad light stopped play with four overs remaining, Matt Critchley had almost single-handedly defied Sussex for more than two hours with an unbeaten 63 from 82 balls.

Coles the batsman had been instrumental in helping Sussex set Essex the daunting target of 329 to win in four-and-a-half sessions. Zaman Akhter had wrapped up the last four Sussex wickets to finish with his best figures for Essex of 4 for 51. At the other end, Simon Harmer chipped in with 4 for 96, including three wickets in 15 balls, the first and second separated by a night's sleep.

Coles then came out and opened the bowling. With his 11th delivery he had Paul Walter snaffled at short leg off a mistimed hoick.

Sussex could afford to set wide open, attacking fields and Dean Elgar and Tom Westley capitalised with a flurry of boundaries. But when the pair had plundered 66 runs inside

11 overs, Henry Crocombe revived memories of his first-innings hat-trick by knocking Elgar's off-stump out of the ground.

Westley tried to reverse-sweep Jack Carson for a third time but only top-edged through to the wicketkeeper and Essex's top three had departed within 16 overs with 250 runs still needed.

Charlie Allison and Matt Critchley reduced the arrears by 71 in a fourth-wicket stand liberally decorated with boundaries. Allison had been calmly controlled in his hitting even when he launched successive sixes over Carson's head and to long-on. But two balls after the second, he dragged the spinner to a diving midwicket.

Harmer kept Critchley company for 13 overs before edging Ari Karvelas to slip. That brought in Michael Pepper, who was nursing a badly bruised thumb which had prevented him keeping wicket earlier in the day. But he lasted just 13 balls before Coles got a ball to turn sharply and disturb off-stump. Coles had a third wicket when Akhter was trapped in his crease for a pair

There had been almost as much drama off the field as there was on it earlier in the morning. Essex's deepening injury crisis, with Pepper joining the list overnight, led Essex to sign George Bell from Lancashire on an emergency loan to the end of the season. He was straight into action behind the stumps but was not eligible to bat.

Back on the field, Harmer struck with the 12th and 14th balls of the day after a delayed start due to rain. John Simpson fell lbw attempting an injudicious sweep and Jack Leaning prodded forward with the ball popping up to short leg.

Carson attempted to disrupt Harmer's rhythm and three times bounced down the wicket and lofted him down the ground, twice for sixes and once for four. His seventh-wicket stand with Coles put on 63 runs in just 11 overs before he was the first of Akhter's wickets, lbw playing around a delivery.

Coles reached fifty by hooking Akhter for his seventh boundary, but the bowler hit back when Dom Goodman nudged an inswinger for Bell's first entry on the scorecard. Ari Karvelas swung his bat lustily as he had in the first innings but departed when a full-bloodied drive was well held at mid-on. And Coles finally departed after a 125-ball stay to a catch on the long-on boundary.