Yorkshire’s low-scoring LV= Insurance County Championship clash with Northamptonshire at Emerald Headingley could go either way during the final two days. But it is the visitors who have the advantage.
During a topsy-turvy second day, Yorkshire, defending their first-innings 206, limited Northants to a lead of only 28 thanks to three wickets each for Steve Patterson, Jordan Thompson and David Willey.
But they lost Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Will Fraine and Adam Lyth in the remaining 20 overs to close second time around on 43-3. That equates to a lead of just 15.
Northants moved from 36-0 overnight to 234 all out in their first innings midway through the evening, with seven slip catches taken.
They were reduced to 81-5 before lunch as the White Rose got their tails up, but rearguard fifties for Saif Zaib (55) and Tom Taylor (50) swung the pendulum back towards the visitors.
Northants added 40 runs in the first 10 overs of play for the loss of Ben Curran, caught low down at third slip by Harry Brook off Patterson.
Thompson then had Charlie Thurston caught at second slip by Lyth (76-2) before Patterson had Northants skipper Ricardo Vasconcelos caught at first by Kohler-Cadmore for an eye-catching 47.
Those two wickets fell with the score on 76, and the next two on 81.
Rob Keogh edged Patterson to Kohler-Cadmore before Thompson had Luke Procter brilliantly caught one-handed diving to his right at third slip by Brook.
That was the pick of the catches, but it only paved the way for Zaib and Taylor to dig in.
Their progress was, understandably, slow and steady against an upbeat attack in challenging conditions.
They took the score to 102-5 from 43 overs at lunch.
The pair became more expansive to take the lead below 50 during the afternoon.
Zaib took back-to-back boundaries off Patterson in the 58th over (145-5) before Taylor lofted Dom Bess over mid-on’s head for another four in the next over.
But their batting remained considered under the Headingley floodlights, which were in use for the majority of the day.
Zaib was the first to fifty, off 127 balls with eight fours. But, shortly afterwards, he lost his middle stump aiming a drive at Willey, leaving the score at 173-6 in the 68th over – a deficit of 33.
Northants reached tea at 195-6 from 76 overs, trailing by 11 with Taylor 47 not out.
Taylor reached 50 off 138 balls early in the evening, but he fell without adding to his score when bowled by Bess.
That left Northants at 199-7 in the 79th over. And rain immediately interrupted play for 15 minutes, cutting four overs from the day’s allotted 104.
Northants reached 204-7, trailing by two by the time the new ball was taken after 80 overs.
Willey took it and had Wayne Parnell caught by Kohler-Cadmore at first slip in the 86th over and Simon Kerrigan by Lyth at second in the 88th, leaving the score at 229-9.
And Thompson, who also took the new ball, wrapped things up when he had Ben Sanderson caught behind at the end of the next over.
In total, eight of the 10 Northants wickets fell to catches behind the wicket.
Sanderson then had Kohler-Cadmore caught behind for a duck and Parnell trapped Fraine lbw for three as Yorkshire fell to 25-2 after 12 overs.
The third wicket was that of Lyth, caught at third slip off Berg for 27 (35-3 in the 17th).