County Championship: Shan Masood holds key for Yorkshire after Leus du Plooy century for Derbyshire

Leus du Plooy's century for Derbyshire was his 16th in first-class cricket

Shan Masood holds the key for Yorkshire with the County Championship match against Derbyshire in the balance after a pulsating third day at Chesterfield.

The Yorkshire captain was unbeaten on 68 but his team lost late wickets chasing 212 and closed on 147-6 with 65 more runs needed.

Derbyshire skipper Leus du Plooy made a superb 170 and shared a fifth wicket stand of 277 with Haider Ali, who scored 146 as the home side made 453 all out to set up a thrilling finale.

Matthew Fisher and Dom Bess both took three wickets before Derbyshire's innings ended when Suranga Lakmal was hit by a short ball and replaced by concussion substitute Zak Chappell.

Yorkshire seemed to be cruising on 140-3 but spinners Mark Watt and Alex Thomson took three wickets in four overs to raise Derbyshire's hopes of pulling off a remarkable victory.

The visitors hopes of chasing a less demanding target quickly evaporated on another hot morning at Queen's Park.

Although they bowled a lot better than on the second day, there were few problems for Du Plooy and Ali after they negotiated the opening burst from Ben Coad and Fisher.

Fisher made Du Plooy work for his hundred, opening with a maiden to the Derbyshire skipper, before a short ball was pulled to the mid-wicket boundary.

The stand had become the second highest by Derbyshire at Chesterfield when Ali moved across his stumps to work George Hill to leg and was lbw although the ball looked to be going down leg-side.

It had been an outstanding innings from Ali, who scored 100 of his runs in boundaries.

If Yorkshire thought his departure would open the door, they were disappointed as Du Plooy and Brooke Guest survived against the new ball to go in at lunch with a lead of 97.

Du Plooy reached his 150 from 272 balls and the stand with Guest was worth 67 when a ball change did the trick for Yorkshire.

Guest scooped a catch to short midwicket when Bess got one to grip but there was more frustration for the visitors when Du Plooy came down the pitch and Johnny Tattersall failed to complete a difficult stumping.

Bess was hoisted for six by Thomson but in his next over, Du Plooy's superb innings ended when he edged a big drive and was caught at slip.

The England spinner had bowled a lot better after a chastening second day and Watt's attempt to reverse sweep him ended in Tattersall's gloves.

Ben Aitchison drove Fisher low to cover and after Thomson pulled Bess out of the ground, Lakmal was hit on the back of the neck after ducking into a short ball from Fisher.

He was able to walk off the field but could not continue and was retired out with Chappell replacing him and opening the bowling with Yorkshire facing a much bigger target than they would have anticipated when Derbyshire were 17-4 on day two.

Adam Lyth and Finlay Bean reduced the target by 38 before Bean drove Thomson low to cover and the spinner almost had Masood first ball when an edge just evaded Wayne Madsen at slip.

Lyth and Masood took the score to 63 but the return of Watt at the Lake End brought an immediate reward when the former was lbw going back and across to a quicker ball.

With Dawid Malan unable to come in no earlier than the fall of the fifth wicket after being off the field with a groin problem, Hill joined Masood but was run out when he failed to beat Aitchison's throw from point.

Masood and Tattersall were steering Yorkshire home, but Tattersall was lbw to one that kept low from Thomson before Watt removed Fisher and Matthew Revis to give the game another twist.

Report supplied by ECB Reporters' Network.