Michael di Venuto led a Derbyshire fightback with his third century of the season to blunt Gloucestershire's attack at Derby.

The Tasmanian hauled the hosts back from the brink of defeat after Gloucestershire had taken a first-innings lead of 188 in their Frizzell County Championship Second Division game.

When Ian Harvey struck twice to reduce Derbyshire to 39-3 the visitors sensed an early victory but Di Venuto counter-attacked to reach his 100 from 107 balls as Derbyshire ended on 226-4, a lead of 38.

Meanwhile, Graeme Smith revived South Africa's morale with a timely half-century to hasten their seven-wicket NatWest Series victory over Zimbabwe at the Rose Bowl.

A third-wicket stand of 137 between Smith (69) and Jacques Rudolph (69 not out) aided South Africa as they prepared for Saturday's final against England at Lord's.

SCOREBOARD

The NatWest Series, The Rose Bowl Zimbabwe 173-8 (H H Streak 50 no, M Ntini 4-45), South Africa 174-3 (J A Rudolph 69 no, G C Smith 69) South Africa beat Zimbabwe by 7 wkts.

Frizzell County Championship Division One, Maidstone: Kent 362 (E T Smith 149, G O Jones 82, D L Vettori 4-74) & 418-3 dec (R W T Key 140, E T Smith 113, A Symonds 103 no), Nottinghamshire 156 (J E R Gallian 51, Mohammad Sami 8-64) & 29-2; Southgate: Middlesex 620-7 dec (A J Strauss 147, D C Nash 103 no, E C Joyce 102, P N Weekes 75), Leicestershire 221-3 (V Sehwag 130, J K Maunders 55); Arundel: Essex 340 (N Hussain 95, G R Napier 89 no, J D Lewry 5-72), Sussex 282-8 (P A Cottey 107, T R Ambrose 88); Edgbaston: Surrey 355 (A J Hollioake 88, A J Stewart 74, N M Carter 5-75) & 282-3 (M R Ramprakash 121 no, M A Butcher 118) v Warwickshire 245 (D R Brown 61, Azhar Mahmood 4-61).

Division Two, Derby Derbyshire 89 (J Lewis 6-48) & 226-4 (M J Di Venuto 116 no), Gloucestershire 277 (C M Spearman 85, D G Cork 4-75); Riverside: Durham 327 (G J Pratt 150, M J Cawdron 6-87) v Northamptonshire 320-8 (P A Jaques 109); Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 349 (R D B Croft 122, N A M McLean 5-79) & 113-3, Somerset 233 (I D Blackwell 82, M Burns 50, M S Kasprowicz 4-53); Tour Match, Headingley: Yorkshire 246 (M J Lumb 65, T T Bresnan 52, A Mishra 4-42, I K Pathan 4-60) & 27-1 v India A 336-8 dec (P A Patel 129, W Jaffer 67, A Mishra 52 no)