YORKSHIRE may still be heading towards defeat after two days against Lancashire at Liverpool – but they yesterday gave a much improved display with the ball.

Andrew Gale’s men endured a demoralising first day when they were bowled out for a paltry 141 on Wednesday, also allowing Lancashire to reach 56-1 from 16 overs in response.

But they returned yesterday and battled hard to restrict the Red Rose side’s lead, keeping their scoring rate to 2.89 runs per over.

There is still, however, a major amount of work ahead after Lancashire closed on 327-8 from 113 overs, leading by 186 runs. But things could have been a whole lot worse.

“It was a tough day, but the bowlers had to work hard,” said leg-spinner Adil Rashid, who has figures of 1-94 from 30 overs. “The wicket was quite slow and low. It was dead and easy to bat on.

“But all the bowlers bowled well and got it in the right areas. We kept the pressure on pretty much all day.

“We’ve come back (from being bowled out for 141) and tried to get it right, and we have done to a certain degree even though the pitch didn’t help the bowlers.”

Paul Horton and Mark Chilton were the notable performers for the hosts, scoring 93 off 199 balls and 77 off 174 balls respectively.

They were happy to slowly build a lead, not worrying about the scoring rate or how many bonus points they would accrue.

The White Rose only took one wicket in each of the first two sessions, with Steve Patterson (2-51 from 24) adding to his day one strike with that of Karl Brown, trapped lbw for 19, during the morning.

Horton and Chilton shared 81 for the third wicket inside 32 overs, with the former dropped by Simon Guy off Rashid before lunch.

However, Rashid and Guy combined in the afternoon to remove Horton seven runs short of a third Roses century, leaving the score at 150-3 in the 57th.

Chilton and Steven Croft (41) then united to share 90 for the fourth inside 31 overs before the former also fell short of three figures early in the evening session.

And that was the start of Yorkshire’s best spell of the day.

It had looked like a strange decision from Gale to delay taking the new ball until the 102nd over, but one that paid off with pace bowler Moin Ashraf and the part-time offspin of Joe Root accounting for three wickets for four runs.

Ashraf had Chilton caught at first slip by Adam Lyth before Root bowled Croft off the inside edge and got Gareth Cross lbw with consecutive deliveries, Lancashire slipping from 240-3 to 244-6 in the 91st.

Ryan Sidebottom got two further wickets, bowling Farveez Maharoof (34) and trapping Glen Chapple lbw, but Lancashire had already edged their way beyond a lead of 150 by that stage.

SCORECARD

Lancashire v Yorkshire
At Liverpool.
Overnight: Yorkshire 141 (J J Sayers 53; M
F Maharoof 4-35, G Keedy4-44). Lancashire
56-1.
Lancashire First Innings Close
P J Horton c Guy b A U Rashid 93
K R Brown lbw b Patterson 19
M J Chilton c Lyth b Ashraf 77
S J Croft b Root 41
L A Procter not out 23
G D Cross lbw b Root 0
M F Maharoof b Sidebottom 34
G Chapple lbw b Sidebottom 18
J M Anderson not out 4
Extras (b9 lb4 nb4 pens 0) 17
Total 8 wkts (113 overs) 327
Fall: 1-9 2-69 3-150 4-240 5-244 6-244
7-299 8-321
To Bat: G Keedy.
Bonus Pts: Lancashire 3 Yorkshire 0
Bowling: Patterson 24-8-51-2. Sidebottom
20-7-47-2. A U Rashid 30-4-94-1. Ashraf
11-2-50-1. Hannon-Dalby 13-1-37-0. Root
15-4-35-2.