Luxton & Bairstow help Tykes forge lead over Sussex

Jonny Bairstow's 57 at Scarborough was his first red-ball half-century for the Tykes since the 2018 Roses match at Old Trafford

Vitality County Championship, Division Two, Scarborough (day two)

Sussex 189: Alsop 86*, Hughes 53; Revis 3-38, Thompson 3-46 & 26-0

Yorkshire 326: Luxton 59, Bairstow 57, Thompson 44*, Wharton 40; Carson 5-83

Sussex (3 pts) trail Yorkshire (5 pts) by 111 runs with all 10 second-innings wickets remaining

Match scorecard

England’s Jonny Bairstow hit 57 - his first fifty in first-class cricket since last July - as Yorkshire took charge of their Division Two clash with promotion rivals Sussex at Scarborough.

Bairstow came in immediately after lunch with Yorkshire 104-3 in reply to Sussex, whose first innings was wrapped up for 189 in the day's second over.

The 34-year-old then shared a fourth-wicket stand of 90 with Will Luxton, who made his highest score to date of 59 in only his fourth appearance.

Sussex off-spinner Jack Carson claimed an excellent season's best 5-83 in 20 overs as Yorkshire were bowled out for 326, a lead of 137.

But Sussex then closed on 26-0 in their second innings from 10 overs.

Bairstow's innings was what Yorkshire and England fans have come to expect, but not without luck as he was dropped on 38 and 51.

The latter was by England team-mate Ollie Robinson as he ran in from mid-on following a top-edge at left-arm seamer Sean Hunt.

Bairstow was quickly into battle. After driving his first ball for four down the ground off Fynn Hudson-Prentice, Robinson thought he had him caught behind on four.

It seemed as if the pair had words, as they did again the following ball when Bairstow missed an attempted expansive drive and stomped down the pitch to talk to his batting partner as Robinson stared.

Both men are aiming to rekindle Test careers which stalled following England's New Year tour to India. And there was no doubt Bairstow won this battle.

Yorkshire, who have had the best of batting conditions, could go on and claim victory in the war with the Division Two leaders over the next couple of days.

But Robinson took 2-57 from his 21.5 overs - including being driven by Bairstow for successive boundaries - while Bairstow also lofted Hudson-Prentice’s medium pace over mid-on's head twice and pulled Hunt for six two balls after Robinson's drop.

While the focus was on Bairstow, who last posted a red-ball fifty in the final Test of last summer's Ashes at The Oval in late July, Luxton was just as good but in more watchful fashion during his 130 balls - and showed his patient side when he did not score in the afternoon's opening 50 minutes, stuck on 27.

Report supplied by ECB Reporters' Network

Jonny Bairstow was watched by another bumper crowd at North Marine Road