Yorkshire have still got an outside chance of winning their ongoing LV= County Championship match after a strong response to Derbyshire’s first-innings 475 and Chesney Hughes’ maiden double century yesterday.
Derbyshire’s left-handed opener posted a superb unbeaten 270 to be the cornerstone of the visitors’ imposing effort and write himself into the record books.
Openers Adam Lyth (69) and Joe Root, unbeaten on 75 off 111 balls, then scored half-centuries to help the hosts close on 164-1 from 45 overs, a deficit of 311.
Yorkshire will need to bat the whole of today’s third day and probably into tomorrow before putting the pressure on with the ball during the latter stages of the contest.
“Hopefully, we can make them bat again with a hundred lead,” said leg-spinner Adil Rashid, who claimed his 300th first-class wicket yesterday.
“It would give us around two sessions to try and get them out. That’s our aim, but there’s a long way to go. We’ve got to build partnerships and look to get big hundreds if we get in. The wicket’s still quite good to bat on.”
Hughes batted for just over nine hours, falling only five runs short of Derbyshire’s highest individual score in their first-class history.
The 22-year-old posted the highest score by anyone carrying their bat in the Championship since 1935, and is now tied fifth on list of highest first-class scorers at Headingley, putting himself alongside names such as Don Bradman, John Edrich and Darren Lehmann having been dropped on 70 during day one.
He faced 415 balls and hit 40 fours and three sixes, scoring 99 of his runs yesterday.
Rashid’s own milestone came courtesy of former team-mate David Wainwright, who he trapped lbw after an attempted sweep on the way to figures of 3-122 from 30 overs.
“It’s a nice little landmark for me. It’s been a long time coming for the last 50 to 100 because the past couple of seasons have been quite tough. But it’s nice to get there, and hopefully I can kick on from here,” added Rashid, who has taken advantage of Azeem Rafiq’s knee injury to win a regular place in the side.
“For the past season or so I’ve been in and out of the squad. It’s nice to get back in and perform with bat and ball. I bowled 30 overs here, quite a long spell, and it’s nice to get a few wickets.”
Tim Bresnan, Liam Plunkett and Steve Patterson all took two wickets apiece in the innings, while Jack Brooks struck once.
Lyth and Root then shared a first-wicket stand of 126 either side of tea, playing some eye-catching strokes and looking in no trouble at all in excellent batting conditions.
Lyth brought up his first Championship 50 off 68 balls and Root off 77 to back up his match-winning 182 against Durham on Saturday at the first opportunity.
But the former gave his wicket away when driving loosely at Groenewald in the 33rd over, and was caught at second slip.
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