SCARBOROUGH

(day two of four; Yorkshire won toss)

Kent 227 (M van Jaarsveld 107, JL Denly 50); Yorkshire 409 for 7 (JA Rudolph 146, A Lyth 68, A McGrath 52, Adil Rashid 43 not out, RH Joseph 3 for 92)

Lunch

With the Michael Vaughan sideshow out of the way for the time being, Jacques Rudolph took centre stage as Yorkshire concentrated on chasing valuable championship points after resuming 142 runs behind with eight wickets in hand on a bright and breezy day.

Batting was much more straightforward than it had been on the first morning and Rudolph lost no time in moving from his overnight 28 to 50 off 103 balls with eight fours, completing his 1,000 runs for the season in the process. His second 50 took only 43 balls as he accelerated to his fifth championship century of the summer with a six and seven more fours.

Anthony McGrath, who had been dropped by James Tredwell at first slip off Ryan McLaren just before the close last night, was much more circumspect but he reached 50 off 165 balls with five fours and by lunch the third wicket partnership was worth 169 in 52 overs.

Tea

Ryan McLaren gave Kent a much-needed breakthrough in the third over of the afternoon when he had McGrath caught behind after he had scored 52 off 182 balls with five fours and, more significantly, supported Rudolph in a third wicket partnership of 176 in 55 overs.

Rudolph had moved on to 146 off 221 balls with a six and 21 fours by the time he tried to drive a widish ball from Joseph through the covers and dragged it into his stumps but Adam Lyth, a 20-year-old from Whitby playing his first championship match on his home ground, gave Kent no respite.

Lyth lost Gerard Brophy at 303 when he was caught at second slip by Martin van Jaarsveld off Darren Stevens but he was still there on 42 at tea.

Close

Lyth, who has already made a championship century against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, went past fifty for the fourth time in 11 matches and appeared to be on course for another hundred until his youthful exuberance got the better of him.

He had batted with great composure and excellent judgment to make 68 off 132 balls with 11 fours but then drove recklessly at a wide ball from Martin Saggers and was caught behind.

Rana Naved-ul-Hasan did not last long before was he was well caught at first slip by Tredwell off McLaren but Adil Rashid, another 20-year-old, was batting well and with Darren Gough supporting him robustly Yorkshire secured maximum batting points with nearly four overs to spare.

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