THE Northern Knights remain on course for a third win of the season against the Leinster Lightning after another dominant day at The Lawn in the last RSA inter-provincial championship game of the season.

The NCU side lead by 294 and need just one more wicket to force the champions to follow-on and, with the pitch turning square, they will be confident of taking 11 on the final day to claim an innings victory.

James Cameron-Dow and Andrew White are expected to bowl the majority of the overs - they have already taken four of the wickets - but yesterday's class act was Phil Eaglestone, the Waringstown seamer who has had such a consistently successful season.

He may have lost out on a place, probably undeservedly, in the Ireland team to face Scotland in next month's inter-continental Cup match, to county professionals Graeme McCarter and Craig Young, but his marathon 12 overs spell after tea changed the course of this match.

Eaglestone ended the second wicket stand of 87 between Ben Ackland and John Anderson and went on to rip through the in-form middle order of Simmi Singh, Andrew Poynter - he of the match-winning Irish Cup final century just four days earlier - and Eddie Richardson to take four for 20 in 55 balls, six of the runs coming in extras.

Only Ackland, who has already faced 230 balls for his 76, with just seven boundaries, showed the patience and concentration to withstand the Knights bowling which was undoubtedly helped by a second day pitch.

Having said that, the Lightning bowlers had no more success than they had on Tuesday as the home side helped themselves to another 89 runs in just 19 overs before White declared on reaching 500. Not quite immediately he gave double centurion Nick Larkin one ball to reach his 250; he could manage only a single, the last shot of an monumental and unforgettable innings.