Yorkshire CCC: Centurion Adam Lyth is relishing the battle with fellow opener Finlay Bean

The former England opener, 35, led the county’s 286-4 response to Sussex’s inadequate first-innings 216 after the visitors elected to bat on a pitch they believed would get worse but has got much better.

Lyth’s 31st career first-class century included 18 fours in 175 balls and was ably supported as opening partner Finlay Bean made 45, South African overseas batter Ryan Rickelton 46 and England white ball star Dawid Malan 51.

“It was a very good day,” said Lyth. “At the start, we didn’t bowl as well as we’d have liked. But to bowl them out for 216, we’d have taken that at the start yesterday morning.

“And I think we’ve batted pretty well there to get 70 in front. Hopefully tomorrow we can bat until lunch and maybe try and bowl them out in two sessions.

“Everyone’s in good form with the bat. Last week it was Beany, this week it’s me. Hopefully next week it will be somebody else when we go to Scarborough.

“You need a good start all the time, and me and Beany have struck up a nice little partnership. We put 94 on, and it set us up for the rest of the day.

“I think I’ve just gone ahead of Beany (runs for the season), so it will be a good little competition for the rest of the year.

“We’ve had a look at the weather and it doesn’t look great for Saturday. It actually looks better I’m told than what it had been. But, yeah, if we can bat for a session tomorrow and get 180-200 ahead, we’ll see if we can try and bowl them out tomorrow.

“Hopefully Mala can kick on and get a hundred tomorrow,” added Lyth.

Play started with Sussex advancing their first innings from 120-6 overnight.

All-rounder Fynn Hudson-Prentice (73) and Australian overseas seamer Nathan McAndrew (47) gave their total respectability by completing a 94-run partnership for the seventh wicket.

Matthew Fisher finished with 4-69 for Yorkshire, all four of his wickets coming on day one.

Left-arm spinner Dan Moriarty claimed two of the four morning wickets including Hudson-Prentice brilliantly caught by substitute fielder Matthew Revis running back towards the long-on fence. He was on for Lyth at the time.

Yorkshire clearly haven’t had things easy in Championship cricket for the last season-and-a-half.

And while Lyth, dropped on 38 at second slip by James Coles, played the lead role, it is his 21-year-old opening partner Bean’s form this season which is even more pleasing as they build for the future.

In Bean, there’s a shining beacon of hope. Even though he missed out on the big eye-catching score in this innings, he still went beyond 600 Championship runs for the season – a milestone Lyth later reached as well. Bean put his name in lights last summer with a remarkable 441 in a second-team Championship match at Nottinghamshire when not on contract at Headingley.

It earned him an almost immediate rookie deal with the county, and only last week that was turned into a maiden two-year full professional deal following three Championship centuries in 2023.

Stalwart Lyth has not had a solid opening partnership since fellow Championship-winner Alex Lees left for Durham in late 2018. Now, this Lyth and Bean alliance looks to be set in stone for a good while to come. Lyth, as ever, drove handsomely as Yorkshire confidently made inroads into Sussex’s total.

At one stage, he and Bean hit five fours in seven balls off the seam of Hudson-Prentice and Crocombe in the 15th and 16th overs, moving the score to 75 without loss. In fact, 76 out of Yorkshire’s first 89 runs came in boundaries.

Lyth drove with more of a flourish and Bean was more compact and mechanical. The latter is not actually too dissimilar to the way Sir Alastair Cook bats.

Lyth reached his fifty off 77 balls shortly after Bean had departed, caught at slip trying to play forcefully off the back foot against McAndrew – 94-1 in the 22nd over.

But Lyth found another partner in Rickelton, who is playing his second of four Championship matches as a short-term replacement for captain Shan Masood. He is away on Test duty with Pakistan.

Rickelton was quick on his feet in lofting Coles’ left-arm spin for six over long-off before he edged the seam of Ari Karvelas to second slip as he jammed down on a full ball - 178 for two in the 46th over.

Lyth later reached his century off 157 balls but was the first of two wickets in as many overs from off-spinner Jack Carson.

Lyth chipped to midwicket and George Hill edged to slip without scoring. While Sussex limited the damage late on, Malan reached his fifty off 82 balls.