Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. Ben Coad celebrates one of his three third-day wickets.
Nottinghamshire prised out five key wickets during the second half of day three after setting Yorkshire a mammoth 463-target in the ongoing Rothesay County Championship fixture at Headingley.
The White Rose are faced with achieving the highest successful run chase by any side in first-class history at this venue, and also the county’s highest in their history at any venue.
Hampshire reeled in 404 to win by five wickets in early June 2006 at Headingley, while Yorkshire had chased the same total against Leicestershire at Grace Road the previous May.
Here, Nottinghamshire declared their second innings on 393-8, including a fine 94 off 121 balls for Joe Clarke and 3-64 from 25 overs for the new-ball seam of Ben Coad.
Yorkshire then reached close at 176-5 from 56.3 overs, with James Wharton top-scoring with 58 off 99 balls. Those five wickets, included pacy Dillon Pennington removing Harry Duke in the final over of the day.
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. James Wharton en-route to a fifth fifty in this season’s Championship.
Fin Bean fell for 17, Adam Lyth for 44, Dawid Malan for 12 and then Wharton. The latter trio were ousted by the left-arm spin of Liam Patterson-White during the evening after the hosts had reached 114-1.
Notts advanced their second innings from an overnight 227-3, leading by 296.
Yorkshire plugged away to try and limit the damage on an easing pitch, with Coad’s trio of wickets supplemented by two apiece for Jack White and Jordan Thompson.
Unfortunately, Thompson left the field during the latter stages of the Notts’ innings, with what looked like a side injury having bowled 15.3 overs. In all, Thompson claimed five wickets in the match.
With the Vitality Blast on the horizon, that will be of concern to the Yorkshire camp.
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. Jordan Thompson went off injured midway through his 16th over.
Clarke fell narrowly short of a century, ending a 95-run fourth-wicket stand with Jack Haynes when he was trapped lbw on the back pad by Thompson – 268-4.
That wicket fell just before the new ball was taken, and just afterwards Haynes was brilliantly caught behind one-handed by Duke for 43 off an inside-edge.
Kyle Verreynne edged Jack White to second slip just before lunch, where Notts reached at 318-6, leading by 397.
The visitors became increasingly aggressive after the break, with Patterson-White and Lyndon James both holing out to mid-on and mid-off against White and Coad. The latter fell to an excellent diving catch on the run from White at mid-off as the score slipped to 333-8, a lead of 402.
The lead was then boosted to the tune of 60 inside eight overs as Brett Hutton, in particular, and Pennington went in search of quick runs prior to a declaration.
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. Harry Duke bats for Yorkshire this evening.
Hutton crashed four fours and two sixes in 44 not out off 26 balls.
Lyth and opening partner Bean then shared 40 to give Yorkshire’s chase a solid start. But the latter was trapped lbw by Pennington playing forwards just before tea.
Returning to those record chases of 404 that Hampshire achieved here and Yorkshire achieved at Grace Road, current head coach Anthony McGrath scored a century in both matches.
Either side of tea, Lyth and Wharton shared 74 for the second wicket, both men looking in good order.
With 44, Lyth became the second man in Division One to pass 700 runs for the summer. Notts’ captain Haseeb Hameed had achieved the same feat yesterday.
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. Liam Patterson-White, second right, celebrates the wicket of Adam Lyth.
But just when you were starting to think, ‘They couldn’t, could they?’, Patterson-White struck two ill-timed blows in his first two overs as the score slipped to 132-3 in the 31st over.
First, Lyth, who beyond 700 runs for the summer, was caught behind against the spinner’s third ball as he tried to cut a delivery which wasn’t quite there for it. Then, with the penultimate ball of his second over, Malan was bowled playing back to a sharp turner for 12.
Wharton reached a 75-ball fifty shortly afterwards – his fifth of the summer – and he was particularly strong to leg in posting his fifth fifty of the summer.
Unfortunately, though, he was trapped lbw playing forwards to the wily Patterson-White as Yorkshire slipped to 160-4 in the 46th over.
Further damage came in the day’s final over when Duke was caught behind for 15. Matthew Revis is unbeaten on 11, with Yorkshire 287 short of their target.
