Records tumble as Lyth’s double century has Yorkshire in control

Lyth’s unbeaten 248 against Leicestershire was the highest score by a Yorkshire batsman carrying his bat through a completed innings, beating Ulyett’s 199 against Derbyshire at Sheffield in 1887.

Ulyett was one of the premier all-rounders of the 19th century and played in the first Test at Melbourne in 1877.

Noted for his aggressive batting and rich bonhomie, he once joked Yorkshire “only play me for my good behaviour and whistling”.

It is not known whether Lyth, who goes by the nickname “Peanut” for reasons best left to speculation, is famed for abilities in such directions, but there can be no doubting his facility to flourish a cricket bat.

As Yorkshire scored 486 in reply to Leicestershire’s 320, the home team ending day three on 57-2 in their second innings, 109 behind, Lyth writ his name into the record books with an innings to thrill spectators and statisticians.

His performance, which eclipsed his previous best of 142 against Somerset at Taunton in 2010, was his first Championship century since his 100 against Lancashire at Old Trafford in June of the same year and the first time a Yorkshire player had carried his bat since Joe Sayers’s 149 not out against Durham at Headingley in 2007.

Lyth was the 14th Yorkshireman to achieve the feat and it was the 44th time a Yorkshire opener had carried his bat in first-class cricket, Louis Hall – a renowned stonewaller and former opening partner of Ulyett – leading the list with 14 occurrences.

There were any number of subsidiary statistics.

Lyth’s was the highest score for Yorkshire since Darren Lehmann’s 339 against Durham at Headingley in 2006.

It was the county’s third-highest innings against Leicestershire, behind George Hirst’s 341 at Aylestone Road in 1905 – still the best for Yorkshire in first-class cricket – and Wilfred Rhodes’s 267 not out at Headingley in 1921.

And if such exalted company was not sufficient, it was Yorkshire’s highest individual innings at Grace Road, surpassing Geoffrey Boycott’s 204 not out in 1972.

Lyth had begun the day on 159, with Yorkshire 336-5.

He lost partner Anthony McGrath to the seventh ball of the morning, the former England all-rounder playing forward to Matthew Hoggard’s first delivery from the Pavilion End and edging low to second slip.

There were two rain delays in the opening session which shaved 13 overs off the day’s allocation.

When the players returned at 1.30pm following an early lunch, Azeem Rafiq was next to fall for 23 when he edged a short ball from Wayne White to wicketkeeper Paul Dixey.

At that stage, Yorkshire were 387-7 in the 107th over, needing to reach 400 inside 110 overs for a fifth and final batting point.

They managed it with just three balls to spare, Steve Patterson lofting left-arm spinner Claude Henderson for an emphatic boundary over long-off.

Patterson, having spearheaded Yorkshire’s bowling performance on the first day, showed he is no mug with the bat as he helped Lyth to and beyond his double century.

They added 73 for the eighth wicket in 17 overs before Patterson sliced Henderson to Ned Eckersley at point.

Lyth went to his 200 from 361 balls with 24 fours and upped the tempo after Patterson’s dismissal.

He lofted pace bowler Nathan Buck for a straight six which struck one of the television boxes at the Bennett End and then pulled Hoggard for a maximum in the direction of The Meet restaurant.

Steve Harmison’s struggles continued when he was ninth out with the total on 474, lbw for a duck as he swept at Henderson.

When Henderson had last man Moin Ashraf stumped for another blob, he had taken 3-0 in 11 balls to finish with 4-126 from 47.1 overs.

Trailing by 166, Leicestershire faced a mountainous task.

Bottom of the table and shorn of confidence, they will do well to emerge from this game with a draw, although Yorkshire will be wary of taking them for granted.

Greg Smith and Michael Thornely started their second innings in confident style, lifting the score to 43 before Smith shouldered arms to McGrath and was lbw.

Rain was already falling at that stage and the players left the field for stoppage No 3 just two balls later, which would only have intensified Smith’s frustration.

That was at 4.50pm and the players did not return until 6.15pm, resulting in a further 11 overs lost.

In the nine overs that remained, reduced to seven overs by a further shower, Harmison yorked Thornely with a slower ball that the batsman seemed to lose in the trajectory but Eckersley and Ramnaresh Sarwan held firm through to the end.

More showers are forecast today but Yorkshire, on the back of Lyth’s innings and Jonny Bairstow’s 118 on Saturday, which ended a sequence of 238 runs in 14 innings in all cricket since his 182 against Leicestershire at Scarborough in May, are well-placed to secure an important victory.