WORCESTERSHIRE are still in with a chance of a fifth consecutive Liverpool Victoria County Championship division two win, despite a Derbyshire fightback.

Michael Di Venuto and Marcus North made 99 and an unbeaten 79 respectively after 107 from Steve Davies had taken Worcestershire into a first-innings lead of 146.

When Matt Mason removed Steve Stubbings without a run on the board and Chris Taylor went cheaply to Gareth Batty, the home side were in deep trouble but Di Venuto and North added 130 in 39 overs.

But a direct hit from mid-on by Vikram Solanki ran out Di Venuto one short of a century and Zaheer Khan had Hassan Adnan lbw to leave Derbyshire on 222-4, a lead of 76.

Worcestershire looked set to bat Derbyshire out of the game when Davies and Batty were putting together a sixth-wicket stand of 165 in 50 overs.

Davies timed the ball sweetly to reach his second century of the season off 195 balls, including 19 fours.

Batty's 79, which included two sixes off slow left-arm spinner Ant Botha, was just as valuable and they played with such assurance that it was a surprise when Derbyshire parted them.

Botha took a good low return catch to dismiss Davies for 109 which started a collapse that saw Worcestershire lose their last five wickets for 31 runs.

Graeme Welch trapped Roger Sillence lbw for a duck but Botha snared the rest to finish with 6-117 from 41.2 overs which was impressive on a good track in hot conditions.

The only downside to Botha's efforts was that Derbyshire had two overs to survive before lunch and Mason got Stubbings caught off the penultimate ball of the morning.

When Taylor was caught for 15, the home side were 53-2 but Di Venuto and North played positively against the spinners with the opener reaching his fifty from only 55 balls.

North drove Batty past cover for four to wipe out the arrears and Worcestershire's frustration increased when Davies missed a difficult stumping off Price when Di Venuto was on 93. But then Solanki sent back Di Venuto and Khan got one to come back in to Adnan.

North and Botha survived until the close but Derbyshire still have a lot of batting to do on the final day to save the match.