Yorkshire well-placed to beat Glamorgan after run riot
England batter Joe Root is playing five Championship matches for Yorkshire
- Published
Vitality County Championship, Division Two, Headingley (day three)
Glamorgan 221 & 171-3: Northeast 46*, Ingram 43*
Yorkshire 519-7 dec (94.1 overs): Bean 173, J Root 156, Brook 65, Tattersall 55; Crane 5-152
Glamorgan (2 pts) trail Yorkshire (8 pts) by 127 runs with seven second-innings wickets standing
Yorkshire look well-placed for their first win of the season with Glamorgan going into the final day on 171-3, still 127 runs behind.
Yorkshire’s massive 519 for seven was built round a career-best 173 from Finlay Bean and 156 from England batter Joe Root.
The dominant hosts took a massive 298 runs lead on first innings.
That left Glamorgan with four and a half sessions to survive on a badly worn pitch, being used for two games in a row.
Ruthless Root
Root, making the most of his early-season time with Yorkshire, started on 92 not out overnight and cruised to a second century in the space of four matches, driving fluently and placing his shots with precision as he found the gaps in the field remorselessly.
Bean, dropped at slip off Mir Hamza on his overnight score of 140, took advantage as he and Root took their stand to 265 at exactly a run a ball- the eighth Yorkshire highest of all time for the third wicket.
The persevering leg-spinner Mason Crane turned one sharply to bowl Bean for 173, including five sixes and 25 fours, but that only allowed Root’s England team-mate Harry Brook to join him for a stand of 72.
Root was finally trapped lbw by seamer James Harris for an imperious 156 off 165, including 21 fours, but Yorkshire still had maximum points before the new ball came.
- Published4 May
Brook (65) and Jonny Tattersall (55) continued the plunder after lunch until Crane took wickets in three successive overs for a hard-earned five-wicket haul, and home skipper Shan Masood decided his team had enough runs on the board.
Glamorgan faced a marathon survival task under scoreboard pressure and saw Billy Root unluckily bowled off his legs for 35 by left-arm spinner Dan Moriarty, in the 75 minutes before tea.
Yorkshire lost seamer Matthew Fisher to a leg injury as he slipped on the soft outfield, but were always likely to rely on spin, and Dom Bess had Eddie Byrom caught slog-sweeping for 30.
Glamorgan’s ill-fortune continued as Kiran Carlson’s drive ricocheted off Root’s shin-pad at silly point and Tattersall whipped the bails off, with Carlson given run out despite looking close to have regained his ground.
The spin-heavy attack allowed Yorkshire to bowl four extra overs beyond the day’s allocation, but Sam Northeast (46 not out) and Colin Ingram (43 not out) managed to drop anchor to give their side some hope of survival on the final day.
Yorkshire’s Jonny Tattersall said: “We got the runs we wanted on the board and we’ve given ourselves enough time, so hopefully we get the rewards in the morning.
“It’s not ideal if we have to go back out and chase (a fourth-innings target), but if we have to chase 100 runs we’re sure we can get over the line.
“We’ve had a bit of luck in this game, we didn’t get it in the last game so it’s swings and roundabouts and we’ve taken our chances. They’ve got two great players (Northeast and Ingram) at the crease, but hopefully we can get rid of those and it might happen quite quickly.
“I’m feeling good with the bat, my opportunities have been slim with this line-up but there was a job to do and I kept applying the pressure.”
Glamorgan’s Mason Crane told BBC Sport Wales: “It’s been a tough match but it’s not over, we’re in a good position to save the game and who knows there could be a bit of fun at the end.
“There were some amazing shots, Bean played particularly well and Root is beyond world-class, they came hard at me and I had to stick to it.
"I’m proud of the way I kept going, a few years ago I would have struggled with that but you’ve got to hang in and you get your rewards towards the end.
“Someone’s got to stick their hand up and bowl some tough overs, I had to take my medicine a bit but it’s about resilience.”