County Championship: Regal Labuschagne puts Yorkshire to sword

Marnus Labuschagne hit his seventh century for Glamorganto pass 2,000 Championship runs for the county

A regal unbeaten 170 from Marnus Labuschagne lit up Headingley as the Australia batter put Yorkshire to the sword.

Glamorgan racked up 352 for four before declaring just before tea, setting Yorkshire an unlikely target of 492.

Labuschagne shared stands of 148 with Sam Northeast (66) and 130 with Billy Root (51 not out).

But rain spared Yorkshire from starting their battle to survive.

The question for Glamorgan was when to call off their relentless progress and give themselves a realistic chance of taking 10 wickets, as the bad weather arrived in line with most forecasts.

Starting the day 196 ahead, Glamorgan's batters were content to accumulate gently for much of the first session, with the only semblance of a chance coming early as Labuschagne's ferocious square cut off Jordan Thompson was almost snaffled by a diving Finlay Bean.

The acceleration came just before lunch as Northeast slapped a six over third man off Thompson as he reached a red-ball 50 for the first time since his 410 not out at Leicester last July.

It took until the 150th over of the match for spin to appear, and Labuschagne tucked into Dom Bess's second over with three boundaries from two reverse sweeps and a scoop shot.

The home side tried some short-pitched bowling and funky fields to unsettle Glamorgan but Labuschagne just responded with brilliant invention, scooping boundaries over fine leg and smacking flat-bat fours through mid-on.

Thompson, the most tenacious of the suffering bowlers, saw Northeast cut hard into the hands of Saud Shakeel at gully and Kiran Carlson soon fell caught behind by Jonny Bairstow off Matthew Fisher.

But Labuschagne late-cut Thompson for his 17th four to bring up his century with the second 50 taking only 38 balls thanks to a dazzling array of shots.

The punishment continued as Yorkshireman Root provided a willing foil for Labuschagne, who renewed his assault on Bess including a lofted six to add to his 24 fours as he seemed to be placing the ball through the field at will.

It was a demonstration of Labuschagne's class in his third of five Championship matches for Glamorgan before the Ashes battles in June.

Yorkshire's previous highest run-chase is 406, but they will be more focussed on batting out time on the final day.

Glamorgan's Sam Northeast told BBC Sport Wales:

"We've put ourselves in a good position and hopefully the weather stays clear for us to give it a real good crack but Marnus played a special knock today to put is on the front foot.

"It was almost ridiculous at times, when he came out after the lunch and said he wanted to put his foot down, he did exactly that, so unfortunately for England fans he looks like he's in pretty good touch.

Especially against Bessy and the spinners, he played really well, he took his time, played himself in and capitalised in really good fashion.

"I'm getting slowly back to finding a bit more rhythm, especially on wickets like this with a bit more pace and bounce. I'm slowly creeping up with the runs, so it was nice to get a good partnership and set the game up for Glamorgan.

"If Ness (Neser), Timm (van der Gugten) and the bowlers bowl like they did in the first innings then we've got a really good shot, the pitch has got fractionally better but there's still enough there for our chances."

Yorkshire's Jordan Thompson told BBC West Yorkshire Sport:

"We knew it was going to be tough with two good batters in and the pitch not helping us as much as on the first two days and we find ourselves looking down the barrel of a big chase.

"We probably feel as a group of bowlers there's a lack of confidence in each other, it's frustrating for us and for people watching that we've not hit our straps though we're trying our best.

"We've created chances and not taken them, with players like Marnus you've got to take them. In the first innings we probably should have had a wicket and it's not been given, but today we dropped him early doors.

"We'll just evaluate things (a possible chase) through the day, it's a massive new-ball pitch and we'll make informed decisions through the day."