Australian left-hander Phil Jaques stood on the brink of a double achievement in the Roses match at Headingley yesterday before failing at the last hurdle.

The Yorkshire opener was in such good form during the morning that he looked set to become the only batsman on either side in a Roses game to complete a century before lunch.

But the task proved just beyond him and at the interval he stood unbeaten on 97 which left him requiring only a further three runs to record the 100th century by a Yorkshire batsman off the Lancashire attack.

Once again the fates were against him because he had still not added to his score when he attempted to force Glen Chapple off the backfoot and was well caught at second slip by Dominic Cork after facing 118 balls and hammering 13 fours and a six.

Now captain, Craig White, has a chance to go on to claim the 100th 100 because he was unbeaten on 64 when the players came off for bad light with Yorkshire on 298 for seven, 81 runs behind on the first innings of a finely balanced game.

There was plenty of drama in an incident-packed second day and Lancashire's attack was depleted in mid-afternoon when fast bowler, Sajid Mahmood, was pulled out of the attack for running on to the protected area of the pitch.

Bowling from the Kirkstall Lane end, Mahmood was given two warnings by umpire, John Holder, and when he transgressed again captain Mark Chilton was informed and told to take him off.

To say that Lancashire were severely handicapped by his withdrawal would be stretching it a bit because in 5.4 overs Mahmood was flogged for 42 runs.

Unfortunately for Yorkshire, both Chapple and Cork bowled exceptionally well to keep it tight, Skipton-born Chapple taking three for 46 in 23 overs and Cork giving away only 44 runs in 22.2 overs.

Replying to Lancashire's 379, Matthew Wood and Jaques got Yorkshire off to a fine start but after making 38 together in ten overs, Wood was out in bizarre circumstances. Jaques thrashed a ball from Cork to short mid-off where it went through Iain Sutcliffe's hands as he stooped low before it ricocheted off his heel into the stumps at the bowler's end with Wood out of his crease. The blow felled Sutcliffe who had to leave the field for treatment.

Lancashire were as vulnerable in the field as Yorkshire had been the previous day and when Jaques was on 36 he should have been caught behind off the expensive James Anderson but Warren Hegg fluffed the chance.

Michael Lumb, in his best innings of the season, also had a slice of luck when Cork dropped a harder chance at second slip, but Jaques was thundering along and he helped himself to 26 off 11 deliveries before cutting Mahmood for six, the bowler receiving his first warning after his next ball.

With Jaques gone and Ian Harvey falling lbw to Anderson offering no stroke, Lumb dug in even deeper as he moved to his first half-century of the season, accompanied by a solid-looking White.

They put on 67 together for the fifth wicket but Lumb fell to the ball before tea, edging Gary Keedy to Hegg for 67 off 172 deliveries with 11 fours in his highest knock in almost a year.

Ismail Dawood was also lbw not attempting a stroke against Chapple and when Keedy snared Richard Dawson Yorkshire were 260 for seven but White and Tim Bresnan came to the rescue with an unbroken stand of 38.