Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Fin Bean drives en-route to his century at Headingley today.
Opener Fin Bean’s excellent unbeaten 102 off 176 balls helped Yorkshire respond strongly after lunch to Sussex’s 502 all out on day two at Headingley, closing on 192-1 from 60 overs.
Jack White finished with a fine 4-60 from 25.4 overs as Sussex were bowled out for top side of 500 on the stroke of lunch, with George Hill also finishing with three wickets.
Sussex had started the day on 373-6, with their redoubtable wicketkeeper-batter John Simpson finishing with 136 off 226 balls with 17 fours.
White claimed the last Sussex wicket to fall, with Henry Crocombe trapped lbw playing around a full ball. Unfortunately, Yorkshire would have wanted that to come much earlier.
The White Rose then lost Adam Lyth early in their response on a placid pitch before Bean, who has kept wicket nicely in this fixture, led a recovery which was so strong that it now seems likely this match will finish in a draw.
He united with second-wicket partner Sam Whiteman either side of tea, the fellow left-hander also contributing an unbeaten 73 as they shared 175 for the second wicket – a partnership they will look to extend tomorrow and eat into a visiting lead which stands at 310.
Not that either side will rule anything out yet. There’s so much cricket to be played, after all.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. George Hill celebrates dismissing Sussex’s Fynn Hudson-Prentice this morning.
It’s just that with the pitch playing as true as it is, it’s difficult to see either side having enough time to gain sustained success with the ball.
Early on this morning, Hill had Fynn Hudson-Prentice caught behind for 36, ending an 83-run, seventh-wicket partnership with Simpson, who started the day on 101.
The left-hander was later caught at long-on off Joe Root’s off-spin after Jack Carson had been trapped lbw by Logan van Beek. That was Root’s 100th first-class career wicket.
Ollie Robinson contributed a composed unbeaten 40 to boost Sussex’s score.
Simpson, meanwhile, now has an incredible record of 10 centuries in 31 Championship matches for Sussex, for whom he signed at the start of 2024.
Hudson-Prentice’s seamers then accounted for Adam Lyth, caught at second slip driving, in the 10th over of Yorkshire’s reply – 17-1.
From there, Yorkshire advanced with authority.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Fin Bean congratulates Sam Whiteman for reaching his maiden White Rose fifty this evening.
In partnership with fellow left-hander Whiteman, Bean reached an 81-ball fifty just before tea and was particularly strong on the drive.
Like Sussex opener Tom Haines did for 64 at the start of this fixture yesterday, Bean was quite happy to drive on the up on a slowish surface.
He reached his fifty in that fashion and pushed on after tea – 96-1 at the break – with Whiteman playing the ideal supporting role.
The Western Australia captain was more reserved en-route to an 88-ball fifty.
Bean had pulled the left-arm spin of James Coles for a flat six over mid-wicket early in the evening, and by the time his partner raised his bat, the county were 143-1 and now in a position of significant comfort with the likes of Root and captain Jonny Bairstow still to come.
Whiteman was strong through the off-side off front and back foot, with one on-driven boundary off Hudson-Prentice particularly memorable.
Whiteman did cop a nasty blow in the unmentionables from a pacy Henry Crocombe delivery, one which left him in significant discomfort and forced a good five-minute stoppage.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Joe Root celebrates dismissing John Simpson.
But he and Bean advanced through to close without further alarm.
Bean reached his seventh Championship century by pulling Tom Price for his 13th four in the day’s penultimate over, and he and Whiteman also recorded Yorkshire’s highest second-wicket partnership against Sussex in first-class cricket, beating the 171 shared by FS Jackson and David Denton at Bramall Lane, Sheffield in 1904.
