County Championship: Tykes avoid follow-on in Roses match but Lancs remain on top

Yorkshire skipper Andrew Gale departed just 17 runs short of a first Championship century of the summer

Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale and one-day skipper Alex Lees both made half-centuries to help their side avoid the follow-on against Lancashire.

But the home side remain in control going into the final day of the Roses match at Old Trafford.

Lees (85) and Gale (83) shared a 130-run third-wicket stand as Yorkshire totalled 360, Kyle Jarvis taking 4-70.

But home openers Tom Smith (35*) and teenager Haseeb Hameed (30*) reached stumps on 70-0, now 204 runs ahead.

First-innings centurion Hameed, is now just 40 runs short of posting 1,000 County Championship runs in his first full season at the age of just 19.

After resuming on 136-2, the only morning wickets for Lancashire were those of Gale, who fell 17 runs short of a first Championship century of the season when he steered Smith to gully after Lees had been out lbw in Jarvis' first over.

They then lost three wickets for just 11 runs after lunch as Jarvis (4-70) struck twice with the second new ball, forcing debutant Jake Lehmann to chop on for 46 before trapping Tim Bresnan lbw after Simon Kerrigan (3-91) had sparked a mini-collapse by having Adil Rashid caught at short-leg.

At 283-7, the Tykes were still 62 runs away from their follow-on target of 345, but a stand of 58 in 17 overs between Andrew Hodd (43) and Steve Patterson steadied any Yorkshire nerves.

As with Gale, it was a season's best score for the wicketkeeper, who fell with four still needed when he top-edged Kerrigan to a diving Liam Livingstone, who took a superb catch having run around from slip towards gully.

But, after Nathan Buck bowled Patterson and Kerrigan had Ryan Sidebottom caught behind to wrap up the innings, Smith and Hameed batted serenely through to the close of play.

Lancashire spinner Simon Kerrigan told BBC Radio Manchester:

"It's a good pitch. So far, it's been a good toss to win. There's quite a few foot-holes for the left-handers, and they've got quite a few. The right-hand batters are going to have a bit of rough for when Arron bowls.

"It's spinning. Off the good stuff, the odd one turned. I'm confident it will start to go. It's just a case of spinning it hard and hitting the right areas when I do get a go.

"If the sun bakes it, it could be one of those where two sessions at them is enough. It doesn't seem like one of those slab pitches that you get at Old Trafford where it goes slower and slower."

Yorkshire's Andrew Hodd told BBC Radio Leeds:

"The boys showed fight with the bat. We thought this might have been a game to win, but how it's looking it might be a dead one unless they come out firing.

"I've been really struggling. I've batted a lot lower down than I ever have before and struggled with it, not really knowing how to play - whether to give it a biff or bat to get some big scores to get up the order.

"Luckily the situation dictated that I just batted. It was only 40, but it was nice to get some time in the middle. If we hadn't avoided the follow-on, there was only one team who could have won."