AZEEM RAFIQ has had to wait for his chance at Yorkshire, but when captain Anthony McGrath threw him the ball 58 overs into Sussex’s first innings on day three, the 18- year-old debutant certainly grabbed his chance with both hands.

It took him only five balls to claim his opening firstclass wicket and just three overs later he was celebrating a second – as the Tykes’ dismissed the visitors cheaply, before Jacques Rudolph excelled with the bat to possibly set-up a once unlikely victory.

“It was a great opportunity for me and to get a wicket in my first over was a dream,” said Rafiq at the close of play.

“I said to myself I should just enjoy the opportunity because of my age so to end up with wickets is great.”

His mood is a far cry from 12 months ago when, through no fault of his own, a lack of registration with the ECB meant his inclusion against Nottinghamshire in the Twenty20 Cup led to the Tykes being thrown out of the competition.

“There was quite a bit of bounce on the pitch, as well as some turn, which is what I think deceived the batsmen,” added the youngster.

“Hopefully on Tuesday, if we can set them a total, I can play an even bigger role because I think there is plenty in the pitch for me and David Wainwright (the other spinner in Yorkshire’s starting line-up).”

While his wickets will never be forgotten on a personal level, they could also turn out to be a pivotal in the game itself.

After Tim Bresnan and Deon Kruis had helped reduce Sussex to 100 for seven, from their overnight score of 78 for three, Robin Martin-Jenkins and Ed Joyce were at the crease and threatening to seize the initiative back until he struck.

They had added a quickfire 56 until Martin-Jenkins attempted to pull a lovely flighted delivery and lost his offstump.

It was the key breakthrough and after Andrew Gale caught Ollie Raynor at short-leg to give him a second success, the two repeated the dose to remove Corey Collymore and reduce the visitors to 192 for nine.

Rana Naved then picked up the final wicket to give Yorkshire a first-innings lead of eight runs before Jacques Rudolph showed his class to put the Tykes on top.

He was outstanding to reach 86 not out by the close, helped for the majority of his innings by Michael Vaughan who made a promising 39 before being caught at backward point by Matt Prior off Dwayne Smith.

It means an intriguing final day is in store, with the chance of a first LDV County Championship victory of the season perhaps coming down to how brave they are in a declaration decision.

At the close Yorkshire are 160 runs ahead of Sussex on 152 for two, with Rudolph 14 short of his century and McGrath on one.

Scoreboard

Yorkshire v Sussex At Headingley Carnegie

Overnight: Yorkshire 225 (G L Brophy 75 no; C D Collymore 4-68). Sussex78-3.

Sussex First Innings

E C Joyce not out ............................100

M J Prior c Sayers b Kruis ...................20

A J Hodd lbw b Bresnan ...................... 1

D R Smith c Kruis b Bresnan ............... 0

R S Martin-Jenkins b Rafiq .................33

O P Rayner c Gale b Rafiq ................... 4

C D Collymore c Gale b Rafiq .............11

J D Lewry b Naved-ul-Hasan ..............12

Extras (b1 lb13 w2 nb4 pens 0) .......20

Total (82.3 overs) .................217

Fall: 1-9 2-34 3-43 4-89 5-90 6-94 7-150 8- 162 9-192

Bonus Pts: Yorkshire 4 Sussex 4 Bowling: Bresnan 24-9-44-2. Kruis 17-7- 36-2. Naved-ul-Hasan 19.3-3-59-2. McGrath 9-3-26-1. Rafiq 11-0-34-3. Wainwright 2-0-4-0.

Yorkshire Second Innings Close

J A Rudolph not out ........................86

J J Sayers lbw b Collymore .................15

M P Vaughan c Prior b D R Smith .......39

A McGrath not out ................ 1

Extras (b5 lb3 w1 nb2 pens 0) .....11

Total 2 wkts (44 overs) .........152

Fall: 1-67 2-150

To Bat: A W Gale, G L Brophy, T T Bresnan, Naved-ul-Hasan, D J Wainwright, G J Kruis, Azeem Rafiq.

Bonus Pts: Yorkshire 4 Sussex 4

Bowling: Lewry 7-2-26-0. Collymore 12-2- 38-1. Rayner 14-4-41-0. D R Smith 11-1-39-1.