Yorkshire centurion Adam Lyth hailed “one of my best knocks for the club” after his sublime 174 helped Yorkshire to the sanctuary of a draw against Glamorgan at Headingley today.

Lyth underpinned his side’s second-innings 412-9 on the final day, arriving at the crease this morning faced with a 492 target. 

He shared 99 for the first wicket with Fin Bean and a century stand for the third with George Hill before falling in the last session.

In his last game as skipper before handing over duties to Shan Masood, he then watched nervously as Yorkshire slipped to nine wickets down at the end of the penultimate over.

But Jordan Thompson, with 55 not out, saw out Michael Neser to secure an eight-point haul from the fourth match of 2023.

This was Lyth’s highest Championship score at Headingley.

Day four was up and down, with Yorkshire at stages looking like they may have a dart at the mountainous target. They were 99-1 at lunch and sent Jonny Bairstow out at three and then 240-2 at team needing 252 more in 38 overs.

“We sent in Jonny after lunch because there was a sniff of chasing them down,” said Lyth.

“If Jonny bats 45 overs, he’s going to be in an unbelievable place with the way he plays. That didn’t really work out, but I thought everyone showed a lot of bravery and above that a lot of skill.

“There was only a small percentage of a chance we could chase it.

“Look, I hardly played a shot in anger all day and got 170. You know the way Jonny plays. Just by batting normally for 45-50 overs, he could have got 150-160.”

Lyth continued: “The nerves were jangling a bit, but this team has got a lot of heart and some Yorkshire grit. We got 412 on the last day, which is a great achievement.”

The stand-in skipper praised opening partner Bean, who made 21, Hill with 60 and Thompson with his 55. 

“Fin has got to take a lot of credit,” he said. 

“I know he was pretty frustrated with how he played, but he’s got to look beyond that. 

“We put on 99, and for us to stand any chance of seeing the day out or even potentially having a dip at the chase towards the back end it was down to the opening partnership.

“Jordan was still nearly 60 off 60 balls trying to save a game and showed a lot of skill and heart. I’m really pleased for him. George, he’s looked in great form without getting those runs. I was really pleased for him as well.”

Lyth accepted Glamorgan dominated the game, and he didn’t shy away from that despite praising Yorkshire’s efforts today. He said: “They’ve outplayed us for pretty much four days.”

And on the winless start to the season, he added: “There’s a bit frustration.

“We’d have hoped to have won that game against Leicester bowling better, but we didn’t. Hopefully we would have won the game against Sussex. We’re then looking at a totally different position. 

“But we are where we are because we’ve not played consistent good cricket for four days.

“If we’d have batted like today first innings of this game, it would have been a different story. If we’d have bowled like they did first innings, we could be sat here talking about a Yorkshire win.

“But we didn’t, and we have to learn quickly. 

“Still, there’s a lot of positives to come out of this game. It’s not all doom and gloom.”

Meanwhile, coach Ottis Gibson has confirmed that new club captain Masood will lead the side at Durham on Thursday in his debut. 

He has also ruled Ben Coad out of the trip to the North East with his groin injury suffered on Thursday’s first day.

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