5pm – Play has been abandoned for the day.
4.57pm – The full covers are coming on now here. It would be a surprise if we see any more play.
4.26pm – BAD LIGHT: Worcestershire are 18-2 after seven overs of 39 to be bowled tonight. They lead by 145. We won’t see all of those overs as we don’t have any spare time to play with.
4.19pm – Worcestershire 17-2 after six overs, leading by 144. We have 33 overs remaining, but the umpires have already checked the light twice.
4.03pm – WICKET! Azhar Ali caught at second slip by Lyth low down off Milnes, 8. It’s 9-2 after two, and Worcestershire lead by 136.
3.54pm – WICKET! What a start!!! Roderick drives the first ball of the innings from Coad to Masood at mid-off. It’s 0-1, with Worcestershire leading by 127.
3.46pm – Yorkshire have declared on 262-6, a deficit of 127.
3.35pm – Tea Report George Hill and Matthew Revis completed afternoon fifties and, with the help of Dom Bess, ensured Yorkshire avoided the follow-on against Worcestershire at Headingley.
Replying to the Pears’ 389 all out in the first innings, Yorkshire slipped into choppy waters at 177-6 during the third afternoon. Dillon Pennington bowled Jonny Tattersall for 21 and Hill was trapped lbw by Joe Leach for 52, the seamer claiming his 450th first-class wicket.
But Bess and Revis steadied the ship in fine style, advancing the score to 262-6 at tea with an unbroken 85 partnership inside 15 overs for the seventh wicket.
They have posted 51 and 48 not out respectively, with Yorkshire avoiding the follow-on upon reaching 240-6.
Hill reached his fifty off 77 balls, falling a ball later. Revis then reached his off 65 balls. Bess will hope to follow suit in the early stages of the evening, further eating into Worcestershire’s lead of 127.
Yorkshire have now secured four bonus points in this match. If they draw here and Gloucestershire – 21-1 chasing 513 against Sussex – lose down at Hove, Yorkshire would avoid finishing bottom of Division Two.
3.26pm – Revis reaches a fine fifty off 65 balls with 8x4s. We are 260-6, trailing by 129. Bess is 47. Excellent.
3.25pm – Revis has taken three fours in the ongoing 58th over and has moved to 48. We’re 258-6 on the cusp of tea. Bess 47.
3.17pm – Yorkshire have reached 240-6, thus avoiding the follow-0n. Revis 36 and Bess 41. We are 149 behind.
3.10pm – Revis and Bess, 34 apiece, have quickly put on 54 to ease concerns over the follow-on. We need to reach 240 and are 231-6.
2.37pm – WICKET! Oh no. Hill reaches his fifty off 77 balls with 10x4s, only to fall lbw next ball. That’s Leach’s 450 first-class wicket, and we are 177-6.
2.23pm – Yorkshire have reached 150-5, and we will need to reach 240 to avoid having to follow-on.
2.15pm – Revis has just dug out a yorker from Allison and broken his bat in the process. We’re 143-5 in the 40th. Hill 36 and Revis 3.
2pm – WICKET! Tattersall bowled by Pennington, 21, ending a bright 42 stand with Hill (34). We’ve fallen to 134-5 after 36 overs. Matthew Revis in now as we reply to 389.
1.34pm – It’s been a useful start to the afternoon, as we move to 119-4 after 29 overs. Hill 28, Tattersall 12.
1.22pm – We’re up and running after lunch – Yorkshire 93-4 in reply to 389. Hill 18 and Tattersall 0. The lights are still on, but the sun has joined us. Lovely afternoon now.
12.44pm – Lunch Report Yorkshire have reached lunch on 93-4 in their first-innings reply to Worcestershire’s 389 on day three at Headingley.
A wet outfield delayed the start of play for 45 minutes until 11.15am – 12 overs lost from the day’s allotted 104 – and Yorkshire resumed on 24-0.
Left-arm quick Ben Gibbon struck twice for the promoted Pears, added to a wicket apiece for fellow seamers Joe Leach and Dillon Pennington.
Adam Lyth was the first to go for 11, caught behind off Leach as the score reached 32-1 in the 11th over of the innings.
He fell just short of 1,000 Championship runs for the season, as did Fin Bean, who was bowled by Gibbon through the gate for 31. The same bowler had Shan Masood caught at second slip for 19 shortly afterwards as the score slipped to 67-3 in the 20th over.
James Wharton was then bowled by Pennington on the verge of lunch.
Play has taken place under floodlights all through the morning.
12.31pm – WICKET! Wharton bowled by Pennington, 8. It’s 92-4 in the 24th over. We’re replying to 389, and Jonny Tattersall is in.
12.15pm – George Hill has just played a sumptuous straight drive for four off Gibbon. It raced down to the boundary at the Kirkstall Lane End. He has nine of 76-3. Wharton yet to get off the mark.
12.04pm – Masood caught at second slip by Baker off Gibbon, 19. We’re 67-3 in the 18th over. George Hill on his way to the crease.
11.57am – WICKET! Bean bowled by Gibbon, 31. It’s 60-2 in the 16th over. James Wharton in now to join Masood. who has 12. We’re replying to 389. It’s difficult to tell for sure from the replay, but there could well have been a feather of an inside edge on that, which cannoned the ball into off-stump.
11.42am – A big one from this man today? Picture by SWPix.
11.40am – The full story about Harry Chathli’s election to the board is linked below.
11.37am – Bean has moved to 27, and we’re 51-1 in the 13th over in reply to 389.
11.27am – WICKET! Lyth given out caught behind off Leach, 11. It’s 32-1 in the 11th over. Shan Masood in to join Bean, who has 19. Really strange dismissal that. Leach only half-heartedly appealed, matched by the slips and keeper. Lyth couldn’t believe it.
11.19am – News from the EGM. Yorkshire’s members have voted in favour of Harry Chathli’s election to the club’s board, paving the way for his appointment as new chair.
11.13am – Play is about to start at Headingley. Ben Gibbon will bowl to Fin Bean. Yorkshire 24-0 in reply to 389. The floodlights are on.
10.35am – We will be starting at 11.15am with 92 overs to be bowled in the day.
10.28am – It seems as if there are some issues with wet patches around the edge of the square at the Kirkstall Lane End. That’s where the umpires have immediately gone to at the start of their inspection.
10.08am – There will be a delayed start here. There will be an inspection at 10.30am.
9.11am – The warm-ups are underway. George Hill and Adam Lyth are currently batting in the nets.
7.55am – Good morning from Headingley, where it is dry and dark at the moment. The ground-staff are just removing the covers ahead of day three, which we fully expect to start on time at 10.30am. With overcast conditions expected, the only obstacle to a start on time would seemingly be the light.
That has plenty of time to improve over the next few hours.
Headingley will be a hive of activity in the next hour or so, with the EGM starting at 9am followed by a Members’ Forum. The main focus of the EGM is to pave the way for Harry Chathli to be appointed the club’s new chair. That is taking place in the East Stand Long Room.
On the field, Yorkshire will resume their reply to 389 on 24-0, with Fin Bean and Adam Lyth unbeaten.
It will be interesting to see how this next two days pans out. Both sides could yet win this game naturally, or it could be in a position to be set up for a contrived finish tomorrow.
The interesting addition to the latter, though, is that Yorkshire are keen to avoid finishing bottom of Division Two, and they came into this fixture six points behind second-bottom Gloucestershire, who are on the ropes in their game against Sussex at Hove.
The hosts were bowled out for 202 in their first innings before limiting Gloucestershire to 195 in reply. In their second innings, Sussex 256-3 with a lead of 263. If Gloucestershire were to lose, they would go nine points clear of Yorkshire.
For Yorkshire to usurp them, a draw would do with a nine-point haul (we have more wins, the first separator when points are level). That means we need to get to 250 today for one batting bonus point added to the three we achieved with the ball. Ottis Gibson and co may then just opt to play out tomorrow and take the draw. Equally, they may want to end the season with a bang and set up a thrilling final day.
Things will become a lot clearer later on.
Anyway, only 29 overs were bowled yesterday because of the weather, in which time Worcestershire won promotion.
You can recap the action via our match report and reaction piece with Dom Bess. They are both linked below.
There will be a live stream available for today’s action via the match centre tab at the top of the page. Enjoy the day.