Picture by Harry Trump/Getty Images. James Wharton en-route to his third career Championship century.
James Wharton’s 92 and 64 from Joe Root helped Yorkshire take a very handy 253-lead with one wicket left into day four against Somerset at Taunton, giving themselves a realistic victory chance.
Since bowling Yorkshire out for 162 on day one, Somerset have been favourites to claim a third win in four Rothesay County Championship matches to go top of Division One.
And while that remains the case on an easing pitch, the White Rose have battled back impressively over the last couple of days to open the door on the possibility of a come-from-behind success.
The half-centuries for Wharton and Root were supplemented by other valuable contributions. Dom Bess’s 40 against his former county was the best of them, and he shared 51 for the ninth-wicket with Australian overseas seamer Jhye Richardson, who made a composed 48 not out.
Yorkshire started day three on 13-0 in their second innings, trailing by 99 runs, and they wiped the deficit off before lunch thanks to third-wicket pair Wharton and Root, who went on to complete a partnership of 123.
The visitors lost both openers inside the opening half hour of play to fall to 43-2.
Left-handers Fin Bean and Adam Lyth fell to Overton; Bean bowled defending for 12 and Lyth caught behind on the drive for 16.
But Wharton and Root steadied the ship and advanced impressively.
Picture by Harry Trump/Getty Images. Joe Root posted his second fifty in three innings for Yorkshire this season.
Root, on two, actually survived a strong lbw appeal from home captain Lewis Gregory. It was on the high side, but you will have seen plenty of them given.
While Root was typically pro-active, Wharton was troubled less than the England star given there was another strong lbw shout from Overton just after lunch.
Wharton was strong on the drive and the pull en-route to his highest score of the season so far.
Root didn’t allow the off-spin of Archie Vaughan to settle, reverse sweeping his first ball for four and picking up a single playing the same shot against his second.
Both men reached their fifties in the early stages of the afternoon, which Yorkshire started on 140-2. Root’s came first off 79 balls and Wharton’s off 99.
Root’s innings here marked the sixth time in his last eight innings dating back to the Sydney Test in January – in all cricket – that he has gone beyond 50.
Wickets have fallen in clusters regularly during this fixture, for both sides.
Picture by Harry Trump/Getty Images. Craig Overton celebrates the dismissal of Joe Root this afternoon.
And that was the case midway through the afternoon when Yorkshire slipped from 212-3 in the 52nd over to 226-6 in the 58th.
Root had already been bowled attempting to drive a full and straight delivery from the impressive, and feisty, Overton, leaving the score at 166-3.
Captain Jonny Bairstow and Wharton then took five fours and a single off an Overton over. But the latter was removed on 18 when he top-edged an attempted cut at South African overseas seamer Migael Pretorius to deep third.
That wicket came just after a change of ball, which happened with the score at 209-3. Incidentally, in all, five different balls were used today, including three changes.
And following Bairstow were the departures of Matthew Revis caught behind pushing forwards at Pretorius and then Wharton brilliantly caught at first slip by Lewis Gregory going low to his left off Alfie Ogborne’s left-arm pace.
George Hill and Bess united at the loss of the sixth wicket and advanced the score to 257-6 at tea, a lead of 145. The ground was now bathed in early-evening sunshine instead of the gloom which was with us for much of the first two sessions.
The two all-rounders settled things down somewhat before Hill edged Gregory’s seam to second slip as he pushed forwards on 31 and edged to second slip – 273-7 after 73 overs, a lead of 161.
Picture by Harry Trump/Getty Images. Dom Bess contributed a very important 40 against his former county.
A sharp turning delivery from the off-spin of Archie Vaughan then bowled Logan van Beek as he played back, initially shaping to cut before trying to defend. That left Yorkshire at 286-6 in the 78th, a lead of 174.
Bess and Richardson took the lead beyond 200 as they eked out important runs against the new ball.
Bess then slog-swept Vaughan to deep mid-wicket with the score on 337 and the lead 225, ending the half-century partnership.
Thankfully, Richardson continued.
Like Bess had done, he looked strong on the pull and hammered Pretorius through mid-wicket for four as Yorkshire moved to 350-9 inside the day’s final 10 overs.
Play actually ended two balls earlier than planned because the floodlights had to be turned off at 7pm due to council regulations.
