CRICKET - ESSEX POISED TO STEP UP TITLE CHALLENGE .  LONDON 1996-08-24  Essex are set to step up their English county championship challenge with a fifth consecutive victory after new-ball pair Neil Williams and Mark Ilott sent Gloucestershire reeling on Saturday .  Williams seized two wickets in two deliveries and left-armer Ilott also captured two as Gloucestershire , 252 behind on first innings , slumped to 27 for four at the close on the third day of the four-day game at Colchester .  Essex , who started the current round of matches in fifth place 20 points behind leaders Derbyshire with a game in hand , could go top if they complete victory on Monday 's last day and other results favour them .  Williams thrust Essex on course for success by dispatching Matt Windows and Andrew Symonds in his second over , before Ilott removed Dominic Hewson and Tim Hancock to reduce Gloucestershire to 17 for four at one stage .  The visitors had started the day optimistically by sending back former England captain Graham Gooch when he added just six to his overnight 105 , but Essex went on to make 532 for eight before declaring .  Captain Paul Prichard plundered 88 from 73 deliveries , hitting 15 fours and one six .  Second-placed Kent were frustrated by rain which prevented any play at Cardiff , where they have reached 255 for three in their first innings against Glamorgan , while third-placed Surrey are facing an uphill task against Nottinghamshire .  Surrey slipped to 88 for four in reply to Notts ' commanding first innings of 446 for nine declared at Trent Bridge , before Alistair Brown struck a 55-ball half-century .  Brown 's 56 not out , containing eight fours and three sixes , lifted Surrey to 128 for four on a rain-curtailed day .  Fourth-placed Leicestershire had Hampshire on the ropes at Leicester before rain intervened .  Pace trio David Millns ( 2-24 ) , Gordon Parsons ( 3-20 ) and Vince Wells ( 2-19 ) had Hampshire reeling at 81 for seven in reply to the home county 's first innings of 353 .  Yorkshire rekindled their title hopes after three successive defeats by taking the upper hand against arch-rivals Lancashire at Old Trafford .  Facing Yorkshire 's 529 for eight declared , Lancashire were forced to follow on 206 behind after being bowled out for 323 , paceman Darren Gough polishing off the innings with a burst of three wickets for one run in 17 deliveries .  Lancashire then reached 210 for five at the close -- just four ahead -- after [START_ENT] Neil Fairbrother [END_ENT] hit 55 in 60 balls to add to his first innings of 86 .
Neil Fairbrother