Dom Bess returned a superb career best 7-43 to drag Yorkshire back into their LV= Insurance County Championship clash with Northamptonshire on day two at Wantage Road.
The England off-spinner added six wickets to his first late on day one as the White Rose fought hard to defend their first-innings 158 on a used pitch providing help for the spinners.
They restricted the hosts, 61-2 overnight, to 170 all out before responding with 159-6 from 61 overs, a lead of 147.
Harry Brook’s unbeaten 76 off 127 balls represents the highest score of the match so far and also a season’s best score in the Championship.
Both he and Bess have helped Yorkshire claim the advantage at the halfway stage in the game, though it is not yet a definitive one.
Bess, who bowled 11 maidens in 24.4 overs, took his tally of wickets to 21 in nine Championship games this season. This was the 23-year-old’s second career seven-for in 60 first-class games.
Northants started the day trailing by 97 with captain Ricardo Vasconcelos unbeaten on 32. They had a clear advantage.
However, 70 minutes in, Yorkshire were back in business as Bess made the most of conditions.
He had trapped Emilio Gay lbw late on day one and claimed three of four early wickets to fall as Northants slipped from 88-2 to 110-6, with Duanne Olivier claiming the other.
Bess made the morning breakthrough when nightwatchman Gareth Berg miscued him to mid-off – 88-3 after 30 overs of the innings.
He then had Charlie Thurston caught behind by Harry Duke in his next over.
And when the same combination ousted Vasconcelos for 55 in the 36th over, the catch taken at the second attempt, Bess had struck three times in four overs.
Olivier then removed Rob Keogh caught at second slip by Adam Lyth in the 37th, meaning the hosts had lost 4-22 to fall to 110-6 – a deficit of 48.
Tom Taylor was the chief instigator as that was turned into a slender lead, with him first of all helping to reach lunch at 140-6 before completing an unbeaten 42.
Bess claimed the last three wickets to fall, with Luke Procter absent from play on day two due to personal reasons.
He trapped Saif Zaib and Wayne Parnell lbw in the 56th and 58th overs and had Ben Sanderson caught at slip by Adam Lyth in the 62nd, usurping his previous career best of 7-117 for Somerset against Hampshire at Taunton in 2017.
Yorkshire may have been 12 behind, but they had dragged themselves back into the game – not for the first time this summer in Championship cricket.
That notion was threatened as they then slipped from 22-0 to 24-3, including two wickets for the left-arm spin of Simon Kerrigan.
The one-time England Test spinner struck with his first ball and again at the start of his second over as Yorkshire fell to 24-2 in the 10th. He bowled George Hill for 13 and had Sam Northeast stumped for one, both players pushing forward.
And with the first ball of the 11th, Lyth was caught behind off Sanderson’s seam – 24-3.
Brook and Gary Ballance shared 40 either side of tea to settle things and take the White Rose lead beyond 50.
Though, Ballance was Kerrigan’s third victim when he was lbw pushing forwards for 26 – 64-4 in the 30th.
Brook looked as comfortable at the crease as any batsman has so far in the game as he moved into the forties.
But he lost Bess as a partner, lbw to the left-arm seam of South African Parnell as the score fell to 105-5 in the 41st over a – lead of 93.
Brook reached his sixth fifty of the Championship campaign off 83 balls shortly afterwards before Duke was bowled to become Kerrigan’s fourth wicket (140-6 in the 52nd). Like Hill earlier, he was bowled through the gate.
In the final few overs, Brook went beyond the 1,000-run mark for the season across Championship and T20 cricket.
