Yorkshire suffer after centurion Joe Root's departure
Last updated on .From the section Counties
| LV County Championship Division One, Scarborough |
| Close of play, day three: Sussex 398 & 126-3, Yorkshire 388 |
| Yorkshire 7pts, Sussex 7pts |
| Match scorecard |
| Live commentary |
Sussex go into the final day at Scarborough with a 136-run lead after bowling out Yorkshire for 388.
With Joe Root and Gary Ballance building on their big stand in the morning, relegation-haunted Yorkshire looked on for maximum batting points.
But they lost their way after Root was given out caught in controversial circumstances for a sparkling 160.
Ed Joyce (42) and Chris Nash (32) then got Sussex off to a solid start - and at stumps the visitors had made 126-3.
Root was already on 111, with Ballance on 34 when Yorkshire resumed on 251-4.
Both batsmen were in the same fluent form they had shown the previous day and Root's 150 came up off 270 balls with 25 fours.
But 10 runs and 20 deliveries later, with their fifth-wicket stand on 189, Root attempted to flick a second consecutive boundary off Wayne Parnell to long leg, Amjad Khan dashed round the edge and got his hand right hand under the ball to claim a catch.
A split second later, he threw it away in jubilation while tumbling to the ground and many spectators close by felt that he had not held the ball long enough for the catch to be considered under control.
Umpires Trevor Jesty and Nick Cook conferred but decided that the catch was legitimate.
Having lunched on 356-6, Yorkshire seemed to lose their momentum.
Ballance, chasing his maiden Championship century went to the first ball after the interval for 87 - and the last three wickets were soon mopped up by Amjad Khan, who finished with 4-70.
Knowing that a draw would keep them well clear of the relegation zone, Sussex were not prepared to take any undue risks.
But, after Joyce had reached 1,000 Championship runs for the season, he was caught behind off Ryan Sidebottom and Nash followed to give Steve Patterson his first wicket of the match.
Luke Wells then turned Adil Rashid into Anthony McGrath's hands at leg slip late in the day.
