Yorkshire set tough target by Surrey

Yorkshire have a stiff task on their hands as they chase a victory target of 355 against CricInfo Championship title-holders Surrey at Headingley.

They closed the third day on 50 for one, still requiring a further 305, with Surrey the clear favourites to win.

In order for Yorkshire to manage it they will have to overtake their previous highest winning fourth innings score of 331 for eight against Middlesex at Lord's in 1910.

A total of 42 overs were lost to the weather but Surrey always held the upper-hand having started out on 171 for four which gave them an overall lead of 245.

The most telling contribution to their final score of 281 came from Ben Hollioake who accelerated after the rain break with a succession of boundaries off Gavin Hamilton and off-spinner Richard Dawson.

He hurried on to 68 off 116 balls with 11 fours before he cut at Hamilton and was caught behind by Richard Blakey.

Hamilton took three of the wickets to fall during the day and the other two went to Dawson who finished with career-best figures of six for 98 off 36.5 overs.

Yorkshire were anxious to lay a solid foundation in the 23 overs in which they had to bat to close of play and debutant Chris Taylor and Matthew Wood defied Surrey for 14 overs but with the score on 27 Taylor offered no stroke to Ed Giddins and was lbw.

Wood, who was in 12 overs before hitting his first boundary, found an equally determined partner in Anthony McGrath, the pair surviving against both pace and spin to fight another day.