Yorkshire are eyeing back-to-back LV= Insurance County Championship away wins after a superb day two fightback with the ball against Sussex at Hove.
After being bowled out for 150 on day one, Steve Patterson and Duanne Olivier finished with four wickets apiece as the home lead was limited to 71 shortly after lunch.
Yorkshire, who won at Kent last week, wiped off the arrears before tea and advanced to 163-5 from 60 overs at close.
A lead of 92 leaves this Group Three fixture in the balance at halfway.
Adam Lyth’s 66 off 101 balls means he now has 488 runs in three Championship fixtures in 2021.
Sussex started the day on 118-3, trailing by 32, and comfortably batted through the first hour thanks to fourth-wicket pair Tom Haines and Tom Clark, who completed a 64-run partnership. But then wickets started to fall.
Olivier, with two day one scalps already under his belt, made the initial breakthrough when he uprooted Clark’s off-stump for 32 – 168-4 in the 59th over of the innings, the 16th of the day.
That was the first of three wickets to fall for 11 runs.
Dom Bess bowled Haines for 86 in the next over.
It was the England off-spinner’s first wicket of the season, in his third Championship appearance. But Bess has bowled much better than that statistic suggests.
Olivier struck for the fourth time in the innings in the 63rd over when he forced Delray Rawlins to miscue a drive to cover, where Root took a fine one-handed diving catch, leaving Sussex at 179-6.
Their 29-run lead was boosted by a counter-attacking 37 from inventive wicketkeeper and captain Ben Brown.
But Patterson cut him off in his prime in the penultimate over of the morning by trapping him lbw, also bowling Ollie Robinson for a golden duck next ball, as the score slipped to 212-8 after 71.
Sussex led by 62 at lunch, but their innings was wrapped up quickly afterwards as Patterson bowled Jack Carson for a duck five balls into the session and later had George Garton brilliantly caught at slip one-handed high to his left by Kohler-Cadmore in the 77th.
While Patterson finished with 4-26 from 12.3 overs, Olivier finished with 4-61 from 15.
Bess bowled through a rib injury suffered in the field on day one for 1-55 from 25.
Sussex’s lead of 71 was handy on a pitch showing signs of uneven bounce and turn – reverse swing also played its part after tea. But Yorkshire were happy considering the opening day’s events.
However, they simply had to bat better to capitalise on the bowlers’ good work.
The early signs were good, with Lyth and Kohler-Cadmore reaching tea, including the former posting 50 for the fifth time in six innings this summer off 80 balls.
The White Rose reached 88-0 from 28 overs, a lead of 19, only to lose Kohler-Cadmore (21), Lyth, England captain Root for his second five of the fixture, Harry Brook and Jonny Tattersall in the evening.
Lyth was dropped on 63 by 12th man Alastair Orr off Carson’s off-spin. Orr was on the field for seamer Sean Hunt, who suffered a side injury in the first innings and will not bowl again in the game.
Two balls later, however, Carson had Kohler-Cadmore stumped, leaving the score at 90-1 in the 30th over.
Lyth followed three overs later, lbw to Robinson’s seamers (96-2).
And when Root was caught behind off Carson, Yorkshire were 113-3 in the 40th, leading by 42.
Brook was next to go, caught behind off Garton’s left-arm pace – 134-4 in the 45th over and Yorkshire’s lead at 63.
While Gary Ballance held firm with 36 not out, the visitors lost Tattersall to Carson inside the final 15 minutes of play, caught at slip as the score fell to 157-5 after 58 overs.