Yorkshire have done it once and they can do it again. That is the message from Jordan Thompson as the county bid to seal another come from behind victory in the LV= Insurance County Championship.
The unbeaten White Rose are frustratingly on the back foot at the halfway stage of their clash with Northamptonshire at Emerald Headingley.
At 43-3 in their second innings heading into day three, they only have a lead of 15 with Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Will Fraine and Adam Lyth (27) all departing late on the second day.
It took the gloss off another handy fightback from Yorkshire.
Northants started the day at 36-0 in their first innings as they replied to 206.
They slipped to 81-5 before lunch and were later bowled out for 234, with Yorkshire limiting the deficit to only 28.
While they have an uphill task to secure a third Group Three win in four matches, it is something they are used to.
Against Sussex last week, they conceded a first-innings lead off 71 before setting a target of 235 and winning by 48 runs.
Thompson claimed three wickets on day two alongside Steve Patterson and former Northants T20 Blast title winner David Willey.
He said: “As you can see, the pitch and overhead conditions were helping the bowlers. It did quite a bit off the pitch to be fair.
“They bowled well yesterday, but we’d get ourselves in a position to gain momentum and then lose a couple of quick wickets. That’s been a bit of a trend over the last couple of weeks.
“We keep having to fight back, which is a bit frustrating. But we’ll continue to do that here.
“It’s hard to put a number on it. I wouldn’t want to get caught out on the third and fourth day. But if we can take wickets in clusters, you never know.
“You saw what happened at Sussex last week when we defended 230. Anything over 200, hopefully more towards 300, we feel like we can defend.
“It’s one of those pitches where you never feel in. You can get to 50 and there’s still a ball with your name on it.
“To lose Lythy at the end was a bit gutting, but we’ll rebuild tomorrow. A couple of lads in the middle order are due a big score, so hopefully we can put some runs on the board.”
