Allround Smith puts Lancashire ahead

Yorkshire 199 for 8 Lancashire 416 for 9
Scorecard

Having cursed the weather when day one of the 250th Roses match was lost to rain, Yorkshire may be less than disappointed if the final day brings more of the same after a dry but otherwise miserable third day for the home side left Lancashire firmly in control.

Yorkshire recovered somewhat from 55 for 5 but at 199 for 8 still trail by 217 runs, needing 68 more to avoid the follow-on. Their imperilled position owes much to the Lancashire allrounder, Tom Smith, who scored a career-best 108 not out, then took four wickets as he continued a habit of saving his best for Roses matches.

The 24-year-old from Liverpool returned career-best bowling figures of 6 for 46 as Yorkshire were bowled out for 181 when the rivals met at Old Trafford last July, going on to share a 107-run opening partnership with Paul Horton, setting Lancashire up for a mammoth total.

Those six wickets doubled his tally for the season and there were parallels of a kind on this occasion, the first Championship century of his career coming after a woeful run of scores with the bat. In eight innings before this one, he had accumulated only 31 runs in total, yet put all of that behind him in a chanceless performance, spiced by some lovely strokes on both sides of the wicket, eclipsing the 104 he made against Durham University last season as his best first-class score.

Some days, clearly, everything works in harmony and the confidence drawn from one part of his game falling into place spills over into the other discipline. This was one such day. Introduced at first change in a four-man seam attack, his first eight-over spell included a run of three wickets for four runs in 37 balls as sorry Yorkshire's reply to Lancashire's 419 for 9 declared crumbled to 55 for 5.

The Lancashire charge was halted for a while as Adil Rashid tried to organise a salvage operation. The leg-spinning allrounder had Jonathan Bairstow for company in a stand of 74 in 19 overs but their partnership ended when the young wicketkeeper paid the price for inexperience and a touch of impetuosity. Having hit left-arm spinner Simon Kerrigan for six over long-on, he tried to despatch the next delivery in the same way but did not get it quite right and with the irrepressible Smith running around from long-off there was only going to be one outcome, even if the ball did momentarily bounce out of his grasp before he completed the catch.

Rashid, having hit seven fours in reaching 51 off 85 balls, picked up a couple more but then Smith began his second spell and pinned him leg before for 65. The last wicket before the close was a give-away, Tino Best blasting the ball straight to Kyle Hogg at mid-off to give Kerrigan a second success.

Smith, 46 overnight, must by now have convinced Lancashire that he is not the right man to open the batting, a role he was given last season as Lancashire sought a way to find the desired balance of batters and bowlers, and has struggled with again this year. Back in more comfortable territory at six, he succeeded where his top-order team-mates had failed in turning a solid start into a substantial score.

Lancashire's day did not begin too well, Luke Sutton lasting just three balls before Glen Chapple was dropped on the boundary, having scored only a single. But Smith's first boundary of the day, driven firmly through the off side from a short ball by Ajmal Shahzad, took him to a half-century off 90 balls and it was with an authoritative pull to the ropes from a Joe Sayers full toss that he moved into three figures from 158 deliveries, with 10 fours.

Lancashire added 144 in the morning session, although not quickly enough to gain more than one extra batting point. They were thwarted in that ambition when Chapple, drawn down the track by Rashid, was stumped just when he seemed to be finding his range.

After a lunchtime declaration, it was Chapple who drew first blood with the ball for Lancashire, ending Adam Lyth's hopes of becoming only the third batsman since the War to score 1,000 first-class runs by the end of May. The left-hander has made brisk starts his trademark this season but when he set himself to drive Chapple's second ball through the covers he succeeded only in directing it on to his stumps via an inside edge.

Chapple landed another serious blow in his second over, nipping one back to have Anthony McGrath leg before, seeing off another batsman who has been in sparkling form. Saj Mahmood had half a dozen overs without success at the Kirkstall Lane end, but when he gave way to Smith, Yorkshire lurched back into trouble, rapidly sliding from 40 for 2 to 55 for 3. Smith trapped Sayers in front with his third ball, then had Andrew Gale edging to second slip and Jacques Rudolph caught behind, the South African nibbling at an excellent ball that left him late.

Shahzad battled well in the final half hour and resumes on 38 not out but it would be a surprise if Yorkshire are not batting for a second time within the first hour of the last morning, unless of course the weather has had another say.