Ben Coad starred with five wickets as Yorkshire bowlers battled hard for reward on day three against Sussex at Scarborough today to move within touching distance of a crucial Vitality County Championship victory.
Coad’s brilliance with the first and second new ball – he claimed 5-69 from 23.2 overs in the second innings – set up a victory target of 103 in the closing stages of the day.
They ended the day on 24-2 from 10 overs and will require 75 more in the morning for a 21-point haul.
Yorkshire once again had much the better of the day against the Division Two leaders, as they have throughout the fixture. But it wasn’t completely one way traffic as Sussex advanced from 26-0 overnight to 239 all out, with captain John Simpson making 69 and Tom Alsop 61 – his second fifty of the season.
They shared 85 for the fifth wicket through the majority of the afternoon to take Sussex into the lead, but as Coad got to work with the second new ball it became obvious they needed much, much more to avoid only a second defeat of the season.
Coad’s five-for took him to 35 wickets for the campaign – the most by any bowler in Division Two.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Ben Coad leaves the field to acclaim after taking five wickets against Sussex today.
But what will please him most is that Yorkshire will almost certainly be celebrating a third successive Championship win. And by tomorrow evening, they would be in the top two with four games remaining should Middlesex fail to beat Northamptonshire.
Yorkshire host Middlesex at Headingley next week.
Yorkshire had the better of the morning session, cut short by 45 minutes of rain from 11.10am.
Sussex resumed on 26-0 but reached lunch at 66-3, including two wickets for George Hill and one for Coad – the latter helped out by a fabulous catch at third slip from Fin Bean.
The visitors were forced onto the back foot by some excellent bowling on a pitch showing significant signs of uneven bounce. Some bounce sharply off a length and others shot through ankle height.
It went some way to explaining why the visitors only scored 40 runs in 21 overs through the opening session.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. John Simpson ramps a six today during his half-century.
Coad struck first, before the rain break, to give Yorkshire an ideal start to the day.
Australian opener Daniel Hughes looped an edge high above Bean’s head at third slip, but he leapt and held on one-handed to leave the score at 27-1 in the 13th over, the third of the day.
Afterwards, Hill had Tom Haines caught by Bean at first slip and Tom Clark caught behind by Jonny Bairstow – his first catch of the match. Both left-handers were dismissed playing loosely as the score fell to 62-3 in the 30th.
When Jordan Thompson uprooted the leg-stump off James Coles early in the afternoon, leaving Sussex 84-4 and still 53 runs in arrears, hopes were high that Yorkshire would be able to get themselves into an unassailable position.
But they were met with Sussex’s top best batters this season in Alsop and Simpson, their only players who have topped the 600-run mark in the 2024 Championship.
By the time tea arrived, Sussex were 164-4, 27 ahead and Alsop had reached a 125-ball fifty.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Jonny Tattersall is hoping to lead Yorkshire to two wins at Scarborough this summer.
Thankfully for Yorkshire, the Alsop-Simpson alliance didn’t last too much longer, and when the former was caught behind at the second attempt by Bairstow as he cut at Dan Moriarty’s left-arm spin, it proved to be the first of three wickets to fall for 19.
Fynn Hudson-Prentice was run out at the striker’s end having been sent back by Simpson, with Jonny Tattersall from backward point and Bairstow combining.
Then Coad had Jack Carson caught behind – Sussex now 188-7 in the 81st over, leading by 51. Coad claimed the last four wickets in the innings, and that was the first of them.
As Simpson reached his fifty off 129 balls, Ollie Robinson clubbed a quick 28, only for him to be caught behind off Coad. Bairstow’s fourth catch of the day left Sussex 226-8, leading by 89.
Coad had Jaydev Unadkat caught at mid-on shortly afterwards before bowling Simpson, who tried to ramp a second six as he was shorn of partners, to wrap things up.
Unadkat and Robinson then had Bean and Thompson caught in the slips – 18-2 – and Yorkshire ended the day with Adam Lyth and nightwatchman Moriarty at the crease.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Yorkshire players come down the steps of the pavilion at Scarborough’s North Marine Road ground before play against Sussex.
