Darren Lehmann’s record for the highest score in Roses first-class cricket – 252 – remains intact. But Lancashire’s Keaton Jennings ran him very close with a fine 238 as the visitors took charge of the ongoing LV= Insurance County Championship fixture on day two at Headingley.
In 2001, Australian Lehmann, the Yorkshire overseas legend, lit up Headingley as the hosts claimed a seven-wicket victory.
During the last two days, Lancashire opener Jennings has led a dominant visiting performance which has yielded a first-innings total of 566-9 declared.
Lancashire declared during the first half of the evening session, with Yorkshire’s reply reaching 53-2 from 22 overs at close.
Despite being behind the eight-ball in this Division One fixture, Yorkshire fought hard with the ball during a day which yielded five wickets from lunchtime onwards.
Dom Bess claimed three of them to continue his impressive start to 2022, Tom Loten secured his maiden first-class wicket with a super one-handed return catch and Jennings was run out.
Yorkshire will now need another strong batting performance during the next two days in order to extend their unbeaten record to five games.
The pitch remains good for batting on, giving the hosts plenty of confidence after some strong previous performances against the likes of Northants, Kent and Essex.
In terms of visiting records, Jennings is now the owner of Lancashire’s highest ever individual score in Roses matches, beating Graham Lloyd’s 225 here in a first-class friendly in 1997.
Lancashire’s team total was also their highest in Roses history.
Day two began with Lancashire on 288-3, and they batted unbroken through the morning session thanks to fourth-wicket pair Jennings and Dane Vilas, who made 82.
On the way to completing a partnership of 177, they batted with caution in the early stages of the day before upping the ante – mainly through captain Vilas, who went beyond 10,000 first-class runs early in his innings and then hit sixes off Haris Rauf and Bess.
The pulled six off Rauf was a huge blow over long-leg which sailed over the stand in the North East Corner and went out of the ground.
Off-spinner Bess led the way as Yorkshire, who claimed only one bowling bonus point, looked to limit the damage after lunch. And he did a very decent job with 3-151 from 39 overs.
The former Somerset man trapped both Vilas and George Balderson lbw, sweeping and pushing forwards, and had Phil Salt caught at slip for 37 as Lancashire fell to 504-7 in the 155th over.
In amongst that, Jennings was sent back by Phil Salt and run out at the non-striker’s end by a combination of Jordan Thompson from mid-wicket and bowler Bess at the stumps.
Loten claimed an excellent one-handed return catch to remove Tom Bailey after tea and secure his maiden first-class wicket. He added his second when Luke Wood holed out to deep backward square-leg for 39, signalling an immediate declaration.
Despite not striking, Steve Patterson returned impressive figures of 0-55 from 33 overs.
Yorkshire’s reply started with two boundaries for Adam Lyth off Jimmy Anderson in the first over, but it was only short-lived success for the opener, who was then trapped lbw trying to leave alone a Bailey in-swinger.
That left Yorkshire 11-1 after two overs, and score which later became 48-2 in the 17th when Dawid Malan clipped Balderson’s bustling seamers to a diving Matt Parkinson at mid-wicket.
George Hill and nightwatchman Loten will begin day three on 15 and three.
