David Willey and Jordan Thompson starred with runs and then wickets on day three to push Yorkshire towards a victory against Northamptonshire at Emerald Headingley.
The all-round pair were major contributors as the White Rose added 161 runs for their last four second-innings wickets to set a target of 220 at tea.
Willey top-scored with 41 not out from number 10 and Thompson hit 37. They then shared three early wickets as Northants fell to 38-3 during an overcast Headingley evening.
Later on, Willey, who struck once, also contributed a direct hit run out from mid-wicket at the non-striker’s end to get rid of key man Ricardo Vasconcelos for 41.
Northants closed the day on 94 for four from 27.1 overs, with bad light ending play at 6pm with 17.5 overs still to bowl.
They require 126 more to win.
Earlier, Yorkshire fell to 86-6 before recovering to 247 all out, with South African overseas seamer Wayne Parnell finishing with 5-79 and 10-143 in the match.
Should Yorkshire win this fixture, it would be their third from four LV= Insurance County Championship Group Three games this summer, including two having conceded a lead on first innings.
They were 71 behind at Sussex last week.
This deficit was only 28, but Northants seemingly took a grip on the contest with four wickets before lunch after Yorkshire had started the day on 43-3, leading by 15.
Three of those came in the opening hour and 10 minutes as Yorkshire fell to 86-6, a lead of 58.
Gary Ballance (16) was first to go when he edged left-armer Parnell to first slip – 55-4 in the 24th over.
Night-watchman Steve Patterson followed lbw in his next over before Jonny Tattersall feathered behind against Tom Taylor, leaving Yorkshire six wickets down with a lead of only 58.
But Harry Brook (39) and Dom Bess threatened to swing the pendulum with a 59-run partnership for the seventh wicket.
They were not becalmed during an alliance which doubled Yorkshire’s lead, the prime example of which came when Brook pulled Ben Sanderson for six.
Unfortunately, that good work was undone in the space of four balls either side of lunch as the score fell to 149-8 in the 54th over.
Bess was trapped lbw by Sanderson for 32 four balls into the morning’s final over before Brook edged Parnell to second slip with the opening ball of the afternoon’s first full over. At that stage, Yorkshire’s lead was 121.
But the ‘tail’ then wagged. Given the quality of batting down Yorkshire’s order, it is not really fair to describe it as a tail, especially given their weight of contributions in the last three weeks at Kent, Sussex and here.
Willey shared 65 for the ninth wicket with Thompson and 33 for the 10th with Duanne Olivier.
Thompson was caught behind off Simon Kerrigan’s left-arm spin, leaving Yorkshire at 214-9 in the 72nd over.
Then Willey really cut loose, hoisting three leg side sixes off Gareth Berg in the 77th over towards the North East corner and into the East Stand. He moved to 40 and the lead to 214.
Parnell’s 10th wicket was that of Olivier, bowled, to finish the innings and signal an early tea.
And Willey was still not done in terms of contributions!
First of all, Thompson trapped Ben Curran and Charlie Thurston lbw as Northants fell to 17-2 in the fourth over.
Willey later had Rob Keogh caught at first slip by Tom Kohler-Cadmore and brilliantly ran out Ricardo Vasconcelos for 41 with a direct hit at the non-striker’s end from mid-wicket, leaving the score at 74-4 in the 18th.
Northants have not won a Championship game on this ground since 1990, and their hopes initially rest with Luke Procter and Saif Zaib, who reached 20 and one respectively. Zaib took 40 minutes to get off the mark prior to the bad light.
