Ben Coad-inspired Yorkshire took a significant step towards promotion on day three of their Vitality County Championship clash with Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff today.
An action-packed day saw Yorkshire set the Welshmen a target of 396 midway through the afternoon before reducing the close of play score to 141-7 from 53 overs. A fifth win in six matches is within touching distance.
Coad claimed 4-30 from 15 overs, including his 50th Championship wicket of the ongoing campaign.
Yorkshire started the day on 116-1 in their second innings, leading by 238, but were bowled out for 273 as experienced seamer James Harris took advantage of swing on offer to return an impressive 5-73 from 17.5 overs, including the 600th wicket of his first-class career.
Coad then claimed the first two of the Glamorgan chase as they slipped to 20-2 in the seventh over. It is the second time in his career the 30-year-old has taken 50 wickets in a Championship season. Glamorgan opener Asa Tribe ended the day unbeaten on 50.
Yorkshire, for whom Jonny Tattersall made an important 40 and Dom Bess an equally so 47, are aiming to complete a hat-trick of victories for the top three counties in Division Two.
Picture by John Heald. Ben Coad celebrates an early wicket this afternoon.
Leaders Sussex beat Gloucestershire at Bristol to seal promotion today and third-placed Middlesex beat Derbyshire at Derby.
The main focus for captain Tattersall and coach Ottis Gibson is securing second place ahead of Middlesex.
Should Yorkshire complete the win tomorrow, they would go into next week’s final round of matches 15 points clear of the Lord’s based county. A draw and the gap would be seven points, while a defeat would see Middlesex one point ahead.
That’s not, of course, taking into account any Yorkshire points deductions for a slow over-rate. That will only become clear tomorrow, but with two spinners in the side in Dom Bess and Dan Moriarty it shouldn’t be an issue.
The first half of the day saw a flurry of wickets as Glamorgan fought back and then Yorkshire made the ideal start with the ball.
Of the nine visiting wickets to fall, five of them were lbw.
Picture by John Heald. Jonny Tattersall evades a bouncer on the way to a valuable 40 this morning.
Harris trapped Fin Bean lbw for 57 having got opening partner Adam Lyth the same way for 55 late on day two.
Night-watchman Matthew Fisher was bowled by Andy Gorvin’s seam before James Wharton and Jonny Bairstow were both trapped lbw cheaply by Harris, leaving the score at 152-5 after 38 overs, a lead of 274 11 overs into the morning.
Wharton was undone by a beauty of an in-swinger from Harris, though Bairstow’s looked leg-side ish.
When George Hill was bowled trying to leave alone an in-swinger from Timm van der Gugten, Yorkshire were 168-6 in the 45th over – a lead of 290.
Thankfully, then came an important 76-run stand either side of lunch between seventh-wicket pair Tattersall and Bess, who steadied the ship. Tattersall was calm, Bess busier.
The latter pulled Gorvin for six over deep backward square-leg, taking the score to 206-6.
Picture by John Heald. Dom Bess on the attack this morning.
Unfortunately, both fell short of fifties in the early stages of the afternoon, ending Yorkshire’s hopes of a declaration.
Tattersall was trapped lbw by debutant seamer Ben Morris – 244-7 after 60 overs – the first of three wickets to fall for eight runs.
Jordan Thompson was trapped lbw by van der Gugten, who also had Bess smartly caught behind by wicketkeeper Chris Cooke diving to his right in front of first slip.
At 252-9 in the 63rd over, Yorkshire lead by 374.
Last pair Coad and Dan Moriarty added 21 more, the latter hitting three fours in his 12 before his off-stump was rocked back by the returning Harris to wrap up the innings.
Coad then ensured Yorkshire made the ideal start to their defence of that 396-target, claiming the key wickets of captain Sam Northeast and Colin Ingram, the country’s leading Championship run-scorer this summer with 1,252.
Picture by John Heald. George Hill celebrates the wicket of Timm Van der Gugten amidst team-mates.
He trapped Northeast lbw three balls into the Glamorgan second innings – the 13th lbw of the match.
Ingram then got an inside-edge on a half-hearted drive and picked out mid-wicket, leaving the score at 20-2 in the seventh over. To limit the South African overseas left-hander to 15 was a huge boost for Yorkshire.
But the hosts settled through Kiran Carlson and opener Asa Tribe, who added 64 either side of the tea break.
Captain Tattersall employed Bess and fellow spinner Moriarty for an over apiece immediately before tea, but this was a largely seam-dominated assault on a Glamorgan batting line-up shorn of their two standout players.
Carlson and Tribe, however, did a decent job to hold things up.
That was until Coad nipped one away from Carlson, playing back, and bowled him with a beauty for 41, leaving the score at 84-3 in the 31st over.
Picture by John Heald. Jonny Bairstow celebrates the dismissal of Kiran Carlson.
And it was a wicket which kicked the door ajar even further.
Hill had Ben Kellaway caught low down at second slip by Lyth before Coad had wicketkeeper Chris Cooke caught behind by opposite number Bairstow – 94-5 in the 35th.
Fisher and Thompson then got in on the act, bowling van der Gugten and getting Mason Crane caught at third slip respectively, leaving Glamorgan at 129-7 in the 48th over. The latter was courtesy of a stunning one-handed catch by Fin Bean diving low to his right.
Tribe reached his fifty off 138 balls, an impressively determined consolatory effort. But it was just delaying the inevitable, something which bad light two overs from close did as well.
