A TRIO of stunning individual displays helped Yorkshire recover from a morning session that had seen their top order implode at New Road.
The Tykes somehow managed to head toward a first innings lead after an epic revival in the afternoon.
Andrew Gale kept calm to lead a stirring fightback with a brilliant hundred as Yorkshire finished the day on 413 for eight having collapsed in the morning to 108 for five.
“You’ve just got to take the scoreboard out of the equation and concentrate on the red thing coming down at you,” he said. “I have felt in good nick all year but I’ve just not got that hundred, thankfully it came today.”
Gale couldn’t save the Tykes on his own and found Tim Bresnan more than capable of sticking with him as the pair went about constructing a mammoth stand of 180 to drag the visitors away from the dangers of following on.
“We just decided to try and enjoy it,” Gale said. “We had nothing to lose really and it worked out well for us.”
Bresnan was first to close in on a century but went on 97 to Kabir Ali – a regulation edge to Daryl Mitchell in the slips – but nothing could deny Gale who signalled his intent early on by thumping Ali for three consecutive fours to the fine leg fence with masterful pull shots.
He began to introduce a series of cover drives as his innings progressed and it was that shot which brought up the hundred – his 13th boundary.
Gale was out less than five minutes later for 101 when he looked to drive again but succeeded only in chipping the ball to Matt Mason.
At 334 for eight Yorkshire were 16 short of an extra bonus point but teenage off spinner Azeem Rafiq stunned New Road with an incredible half century off just 36 balls with seven fours and three sixes.
Four of them were off consecutive balls to the hapless Chris Whelan who went for 98 off 19 overs. Rafiq played every shot in the book to send Yorkshire cruising through the 400 mark with cuts, drives and hooks before he brought up 50 by sending a Mason delivery out of the ground over backward point.
Yorkshire closed on 413 for eight, trailing by two runs in a game that thanks to an epic revival from the visitors is now near enough guaranteed to end in a draw.
Earlier Michael Vaughan was removed for 43 to signal a collapse oft four wickets for 11 runs in a crazy 23 ball spell.
LV COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE
Worcestershire v Yorkshire At New Road
Overnight: Worcestershire 415 (S M Davies 112, D K H Mitchell 68, S CMoore 60, M M Ali 55). Yorkshire 55-1.
Yorkshire First Innings Close
J J Sayers c Batty b Noffke ................44
M P Vaughan c Batty b Whelan ..........43
A McGrath c S M Davies b Whelan ....6
A W Gale c Mason b Batty ..............101
J M Bairstow c Mitchell b Whelan .......0
T T Bresnan c Mitchell b Kabir Ali .....97
A Shahzad lbw b Whelan ...............19
Rafiq not out .......................62
M J Hoggard not out .....................15
Extras (lb8 w1 nb8 pens 0) .....17
Total 8 wkts (110 overs) .....413
Fall: 1-15 2-97 3-107 4-107 5-108 6- 278 7-328 8-334
To Bat: G J Kruis.
Bonus Pts: Worcestershire 5 Yorkshire 3 Kabir Ali 21-2-109-1. Mason 22-8-67-1.
Noffke 23-8-54-1. Whelan 19-3-98-4. Batty 20-5-62-1. Mitchell 4-1-11-0. M M Ali 1-0- 4-0.
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