AN outstanding performance from Joe Sayers put Yorkshire in sight of their first Championship win of the season at Taunton, as the opener showed immense character and concentration.

He batted for almost the entire day and wracked up 152 to help the Tykes reach stumps with a huge lead of 431.

Sayers ignored exhaustion to stay at the crease for just under six hours in increasingly humid conditions and doggedly refused to budge until the final ball of the day as Yorkshire pondered an overnight declaration on 329 for five.

“I’m very tired,” he admitted.

“But after getting big runs it’s a very good tiredness.

“I wanted this second hundred to back up my big score at Edgbaston. I needed it to prove to myself more than anyone that I can do this consistently.”

Somerset lost their final first innings wicket inside two overs on day three when Matthew Hoggard completed his five-wicket haul to bring Sayers to the crease alongside Jacques Rudolph to build on a first innings lead of 112.

“We’ve been talking about the need to have someone to build an innings around,”

said Sayers. “We’ve had a few players over the last few weeks getting scores and getting out. You need big centurions to win Championship matches and thankfully I was the second Yorkshire player to do that in this match.”

Rudolph went for a second ball duck to pile the pressure on the Tykes but they reacted superbly and although Sayers was the glue that held together the innings, support elsewhere was more than welcome.

Adam Lyth, starved of action for much of this season, underlined his potential with an excellent 71.

The Sayers / Lyth partnership was central to Yorkshire’s success with a stand of 123 that put defeat out of the equation after Anthony Mc- Grath joined Rudolph back in the pavilion with the score on 58 for two.

Andrew Gale came and went for 16 later in the day but Jonathan Bairstow pushed the run rate dramatically with a half century from 52 balls that included nine fours, several of which were effortlessly pushed to fine leg from the bowling of the hapless David Stiff on his way to figures of one for 52 from 11 overs.

Yorkshire enjoyed some fortune earlier on when three good chances were put down with Sayers the most notable to get a life when he was dropped from a regulation chance by James Hildreth at gully on 30. He was removed with the last ball of the day when Zander de Bruyn rattled his middle stump to bring an end to a potentially match-winning contribution.

Scoreboard

Somerset v Yorkshire At Taunton

Overnight: Yorkshire 438 (J A Rudolph 191; D A Stiff 4-92). Somerset326-9 (M E Trescothick 146, J C Hildreth 51; M J Hoggard 4-82).

Somerset First Innings

D A Stiff not out ..................................... 6 C M Willoughby c Bairstow b Hoggard . 6

Extras (lb15 w1 pens 0)...............16

Total (79.4 overs) ...................326

Fall: 1-51 2-64 3-144 4-215 5-277 6-287 7- 313 8-315 9-316

Bowling: Hoggard 19.4-2-82-5. Shahzad 20- 3-57-2. Patterson 14-2-55-1. Lee 13-1-63-2.

Rafiq 13-0-54-0.

Yorkshire Second Innings Close

J A Rudolph c Trescothick b W’oughby 0

J J Sayers b de Bruyn .......................152

A McGrath b Willoughby ......................25

A Lyth c Kieswetter b Stiff ......................71

A W Gale c Trescothick b Thomas ........16

J M Bairstow not out .............................54

Extras (b1 lb2 nb8 pens 0) ..........11

Total 5 wkts (92.1 overs)........329

Fall: 1-0 2-58 3-181 4-221 5-329

To Bat: Azeem Rafiq, A Shahzad, M J Hoggard, S A Patterson.

Bonus Pts: Somerset 6 Yorkshire 8

Bowling: Willoughby 19-6-39-2. Thomas 13- 1-63-1. Caddick 13-4-29-0. Suppiah 26-4- 87-0. Trego 6-0-34-0. Stiff 11-0-52-1. de Bruyn 4.1-0-22-1.