Adam Lyth chalks up more milestones as Yorkshire CCC takes charge at the seaside

The image feels timeless, almost as though it has existed forever.

In the mind’s eye, the left-hander is invariably in the throes of a trademark cover drive, the ball speeding towards the West Stand or the Popular Bank.

There were a few of those yesterday as Lyth reached 1,000 first-class runs for a third successive season (the first time that he has achieved such a hat-trick) and for the sixth time in his career, following four-figure campaigns in 2010, 2014 and 2016.

That he was aware of the arithmetic was clear when he pushed a ball from the left-arm spinner James Coles to long-on for a single shortly before tea and quietly punched the air as he trotted through to complete his 92nd run.

Some players don’t know their numbers or pretend not to know them; Lyth - as straightforward as the county he represents - has never been one of those. He would go on to score 115 - his fifth first-class hundred at Scarborough, and his 40th overall - as Yorkshire reached 292-4 in reply to Sussex’s 222 at the game’s halfway stage.

James Wharton contributed 85, his seventh half-century in this year’s competition, the pair adding 168 for the third-wicket in 46.5 overs as they took the game away from the visiting side, who must now fear the worst.

In front of his proud father, Alistair, who never misses a ball from his favoured position at the Peasholm Park end, Lyth junior batted beautifully as he recorded his third century of the season to go with five fifties. He got off the mark with (surprise, surprise) a cover-driven four off Gurinder Sandhu, the tall Australian pace bowler, whose next ball he caressed to the mid-on boundary at the Trafalgar Square end.

Before all that there had been work to finish for Yorkshire in the field, with Sussex starting the day on 210-9 after Sandhu and Danny Lamb had added 60 for the 10th-wicket in a slow, but necessary, first evening crawl.

They had taken their stand to 72 in 33 overs when Matt Milnes had Lamb caught behind for the top score of 48, the partnership surpassing Sussex’s previous 10th-wicket best against Yorkshire of 70 by Vallance Jupp and Clement Gibson at Dewsbury in 1921, and also by George Brann and Arthur Hide at Hove in 1885 (ah remember it well).

Yorkshire almost lost a wicket in reply without a run on the board, Fin Bean just about dropped at first slip by Tom Alsop off Fynn Hudson-Prentice as the ball died on the fielder, low to his left.

A few overs later, a young lad in the crowd showed Alsop and Sussex how catches should be taken, nonchalantly rising from a wooden bench on the front row of the Popular Bank to pouch a leg-side pick-up for six by Bean off Lamb. Not the least impressive aspect was that the youngster casually threw back the ball as though nothing had happened; there were no hysterical celebrations or posing for the crowd.

When Bean tried something not dissimilar in Lamb’s next over, the top-edge was comfortably snaffled by John Simpson, the back-peddling wicketkeeper. It brought debutant Imam-ul-Haq to the crease, the Pakistani left-hander off the mark second ball with a nice punch to the mid-on boundary at the Peasholm Park end.

Iman fell to what would be the final delivery before lunch, drawn forward by off-spinner Jack Carson and caught by Tom Haines at a solitary slip. It left matters delicately poised as the players trooped off, the game waiting to be grasped by the scruff of the neck.

To that challenge rose Lyth and Wharton in admirable fashion, batting through an afternoon session in which 119 runs were scored at around five-an-over. Lyth went to his half-century from 117 balls and Wharton to his from just 79, the tall right-hander rushing towards the landmark by pulling Carson for six and then straight driving him for another.

Lyth’s hundred followed in the third over after tea, reached with another cover-driven four, this time off Henry Crocombe, and celebrated by the raising aloft of both arms and a look towards the heavens. It was Lyth’s 14th boundary from his 200th ball faced, the crowd of 2,463 applauding warmly.

Lyth was eventually undone by a good bit of work by Carson and Simpson, who combined to have him stumped as he pushed forward and slightly overbalanced.

How Yorkshire and their supporters would love to have seen Wharton reach his hundred, something that has eluded him so far this season, but Coles produced a fine ball that straightened to take the top of off stump as the batsman played back.

Harry Duke and Matty Revis played solidly to stumps, but the day belonged to Lyth.