Lyth and Gale guide Yorkshire to victory

Yorkshire 419 and 199 for 4 beat Somerset 272 and 344 by six wickets
Scorecard

Another captain's innings from Andrew Gale and a fluent 90 from opener Adam Lyth earned Yorkshire a six-wicket win over Somerset with 10.1 overs remaining in the Championship match at Headingley.

The hard-earned victory was Yorkshire's second in consecutive matches at the start of the season and it gave them a clear lead at the top of the Division One table. It was also their first Headingley success in exactly two years.

Having left Yorkshire to make 198 off 56 overs, Somerset were still in with a shout themselves when they had the home side struggling on 61 for 3 but Lyth and Gale soon began to dominate events in a sparkling stand of 107 in 23 overs to put the result beyond doubt.

Lyth looked certain to register the second first-class century of his career but, just ten runs short, he gloved David Stiff for Craig Kieswetter to take a leg-side catch. Gale, who plundered 101 in the first innings, was now in full flow himself and he thrashed Stiff for three fours in one over to end the contest and finish unbeaten on 64 from 84 deliveries with ten boundaries.

Yorkshire had made a hesitant start to their chase, losing Joe Sayers to a catch behind the wicket off Damien Wright before he had scored, and it became 17 for 2 when Anthony McGrath fended a lifting ball from Alfonso Thomas to Marcus Trescothick at first slip.

Zander de Bruyn claimed Jacques Rudolph's wicket in the first over of his spell but Lyth and Gale soon calmed the nerves of the home fans. The chances of a swift Yorkshire victory in the morning quickly faded as Somerset's seventh-wicket pair of de Bruyn and Wright built on their side's overnight lead of 55.

They added 42 at a run-a-minute before Wright was lbw to Oliver Hannon-Dalby but de Bruyn continued to look sound until he, also, fell to the 20-year-old paceman.

Having just received a bouncer, de Bruyn took evasive action against the next ball which did not get up as much as he anticipated and it hit the bat for Tim Bresnan to take a great one-handed catch diving to his right at second slip. De Bruyn looked crestfallen at his departure for 83 off 134 balls with ten fours and a six. Bresnan had just returned to the field after a short break for treatment on a slight knee injury.

Despite Hannon-Dalby's double breakthrough, Somerset continued to display plenty of fighting spirit, former Yorkshire second-teamer Stiff now assisting Thomas in extending the lead. Stiff showed his prowess by cleanly driving David Wainwright high over long-off for six but Thomas was fortunate that his slash at Hannon-Dalby went through Wainwright's hands as he just failed to pull off a difficult overhead catch at backward point.

The ninth-wicket stand extended into the afternoon session and was worth 74 when wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow dropped a sitter from Stiff but, off the next ball at the start of a new over from Hannon-Dalby, he made amends by pouching a catch to send back Thomas for 44.

Hannon-Dalby wound up the innings by having Stiff caught high at first slip by Rudolph to give the youngster his second five-wicket haul in consecutive matches and take his wicket tally to 13 at an average of 17.30 runs apiece.