YORKSHIRE, defending a first-innings total of 342, hold the advantage at the halfway stage of their Specsavers County Championship match against leaders Surrey at Scarborough.

The White Rose county advanced their first innings from 299 for eight overnight to 337 all out before their score was boosted by the addition of five penalty runs.

By close of a day played out for large parts under overcast skies with a sea fret often enveloping the ground, Surrey had reached 219 for seven from 72.1 overs.

The sea fret eventually meant 14.5 overs were lost from 5.55pm.

The five penalty runs came as a result of two Level One offences committed by Surrey during the morning session, with a hearing between the players involved and umpires Peter Hartley and Paul Pollard to decide whether those offences should be increased or scrubbed altogether.

One of the incidents occurred as Surrey tried to prise out Yorkshire’s last two wickets, although the player involved has not yet been disclosed.

The other, involving dropped England Test opener and former Durham man Mark Stoneman, came in the early stages of their reply when the left-hander was caught behind off Ben Coad for nine in the third over.

Stoneman swished his bat, although never looked like hitting the stumps, and made his displeasure at Pollard’s decision pretty evident.

The day started with Yorkshire’s ninth-wicket pair Steve Patterson (21) and Jack Brooks (27) completing a stand of 61 as they took the score to 337 for eight before falling in the space of three balls to Jade Dernbach, who wrapped up the innings.

Play was stopped nine times after tea, totalling a delays of 25 minutes, due to the sea fret, although the players never left the ground. Eventually, they did and failed to get back on.

During the evening, Patterson had Will Jacks lbw for seven before Bresnan had Rikki Clarke caught and bowled as the score fell to 197 for seven.