Lanacashire v Yorkshire: Patterson and Sayers help give Yorkshire hope

The Australian would surely have revised his assessment had he been present at the Aigburth venue yesterday.

With a bitter wind blowing in off the Mersey and heavy rain falling in mid-afternoon, Aigburth looked distinctly forlorn.

It is no more than a reasonable outground at the best of times, but in weather like this it is horribly exposed.

For a Yorkshire side who have not exactly batted like Bradman in the 252nd Roses match, the elements made for a welcome sight.

When the players left the field at 2.05pm, running for the warmth of the red-bricked pavilion, Yorkshire were 85-2 in their second innings, trailing their hosts by 103.

Their hopes of saving the game were significantly aided by the loss of 44 overs before the players improbably returned at 5.40pm, Yorkshire ending the day on 131-2, a deficit of 57.

The visitors have fought hard but will need to play well today to complete their recovery against a side chasing a fourth victory in their opening five Championship games.

The problem Yorkshire have been tackling since stumps on day one is: where do you go after being bowled out for 141 in your first innings?

The answer is usually to a heavy defeat, which appeared increasingly likely after Lancashire replied in convincing fashion.

The home side went into day three on 327-8, having outplayed Yorkshire in the opening half of the contest.

Not even the loss of their last two wickets inside the first 11 balls yesterday seemed likely to be more than a minor irritation.

Steve Patterson was the man who ended the innings in double-quick time as he continues to improve from match-to-match.

Following a relatively slow start to the season, Patterson is beginning to show signs of the form that brought him 45 County Championship wickets last year at 26.68.

The 27-year-old struck with his first ball yesterday from the Pavilion end, having Luke Procter lbw for 23.

Four deliveries later he bowled Gary Keedy, who was nowhere near an attempted off-drive as Lancashire were dismissed for 329. Patterson finished with 4-51 from 24.5 overs, Joe Root chipping in with 2-35 and Ryan Sidebottom 2-48.

With 92 overs left in the day, pessimists among the travelling support naturally feared a three-day finish.

But Yorkshire fought hard to ensure there was no repeat of their first innings collapse, when they lost their last eight wickets for 46 runs in 25.2 overs – including the last five wickets for 12 runs in 54 balls.

Instead, Yorkshire’s second innings began in controversial rather than calamitous fashion with James Anderson convinced he had Joe Sayers caught behind for one with the total on 11 in the seventh over.

Umpire Neil Bainton disagreed and Anderson vented his frustration by walking down the pitch to chirp at length to Sayers, who regarded the England man with elegant disdain.

Anderson whipped up a fierce head of steam from the River End, extracting plenty of pace but failing to claim the wicket he threatened.

Instead it was captain Glen Chapple who made the breakthrough, capping an opening spell of 5-5-0-1 by having Adam Lyth caught and bowled for nine from a delivery that seemed to hold up in the pitch.

Lyth is struggling at the moment and this was his fourth successive single-innings Championship score.

The 23-year-old has not looked particularly out of form, however, as evidenced by the way he off-drove the second ball of the innings for four off Anderson in the direction of the tennis courts.

Yorkshire lost their second wicket on 48 shortly before lunch when Joe Root was lbw playing back to Farveez Maharoof.

Sayers and Gale lifted Yorkshire into the break on 60-2, the former playing with great assurance on his way to his second half-century of the game.

Sayers reached his landmark just before stumps, while Gale finished unbeaten on 47.

The pair safely negotiated a tricky 15-over period after the rain delay, a period in which a male streaker ran across the outfield with a paper bag over his head.

Truly, all of the monkeys ain’t in the zoo.

Yorkshire will return to CB40 action tomorrow when they play Worcestershire at New Road.

Gale’s men probably need to win their remaining eight games to reach the semi-finals having lost three of their opening four matches.

Yorkshire (from): Gale, Lyth, Root, Ballance, Brophy, Hodgson, Rashid, Sidebottom, Ashraf, Patterson, Hannon-Dalby, Wainwright, Sayers, Guy.

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