Cliff claims career-best 8-76 as Yorkshire edge 139 ahead of Somerset
Ben Cliff ripped through Somerset with career-best figures of 8-76, but Yorkshire still had to fight for every run at Headingley.
Yorkshire closed day two on 128-6 in their second innings, leading Somerset by 139 runs in this Rothesay County Championship Division One fixture. The match, scheduled for 15-18 September at Headingley, remains finely balanced with two days left.
Yorkshire had made 212 in their first innings. Somerset replied with 201 all out, bowled out at lunch on day two, to leave Yorkshire with a slender 11-run first-innings lead, according to BBC Sport. In four-day cricket each side usually bats twice, so that small advantage carried straight into the second innings.
Cliff was the morning's central figure. His 8-76 were his best figures in first-class cricket. They were also the best by any Yorkshire bowler since Craig White took 8-55 against Gloucestershire in 1998.
At one point his spell looked decisive. Somerset fell to 86-8, with eight wickets down and only tailenders to come. A heavy defeat inside the innings seemed close.
Then Somerset hit back. Craig Overton made 64 from 111 balls. Migael Pretorius added 58. The pair put on 90 for the ninth wicket, the stand between the last recognised batters before the tail, and it set a new Somerset record for that wicket against Yorkshire.
Cliff finally broke the stand. He had Overton caught at long-on, the deep fielder on the leg-side boundary, for 64 to end the innings at 201, as reported by Yorkshire CCC. That left Yorkshire 11 ahead at the interval.
The lead grew slowly in the evening. Overton struck twice with the new ball, the hard early ball that swings and seams most, as Yorkshire lost early wickets. The hosts slipped to six down by the close.
George Hill provided the resistance. He finished 50 not out, unbeaten overnight, and the only Yorkshire batter so far to reach fifty in the second innings.
What makes this stand out is how quickly control changed hands. Cliff owned the first session. Overton and Pretorius took it back in an hour. Hill then steadied a wobbling evening.
For fans, this means a sharp third day. Yorkshire have 139 runs and four second-innings wickets in hand. A few more from Hill and the lower order would set a tricky chase. Quick Somerset wickets would leave a very gettable target.
