Lyth century lifts title-chasing Yorkshire at Old Trafford.

Lyth spearheaded Yorkshire's first innings as they ended Day Two in control.

A superb unbeaten century from Adam Lyth led Yorkshire to 396/5 at the end of the second day of their Roses match against Lancashire, as the opener ended on 182* to give the visitors a lead of 118 runs.

Lyth shared hundred-partnerships with Jonny Bairstow (60) and Adil Rashid (44*) after his 72-run stand with Alex Lees (40), as Yorkshire assumed full control of the game.

Additional runs from the in-form Kane Williamson (46) meant that Lancashire finished Day Two with minimal cause for optimism in a match they can hardly afford to lose, with relegation rivals Durham enjoying the better of their match with Nottinghamshire.

Lyth and Lees resumed play with the same confidence they had acquired yesterday evening and it soon became clear that Lancashire were going to have to fight hard for their wickets.

Young Tom Bailey (1-77) did just that when he trapped Lees lbw with an in-swinging delivery, after he had appeared to be heading for his fourth half-century of the campaign.

This wicket brought Williamson to the crease and the New Zealand international, continued to play fluently after his century against Sussex in Yorkshire’s last four-day outing.

He and Lyth went on to share 77 runs for the second-wicket before the latter reached his half-century in 121 balls with Yorkshire adding 80 runs in the morning session.

As it has on numerous occasions in this match, the interval brought a wicket when Williamson was stumped by Alex Davies off Stephen Parry (2-61) four runs short of a well-deserved fifty.

Yorkshire were still well placed to take the game away from their hosts, but captain Andrew Gale (6) was disappointed to find Usman Khawaja at mid-wicket for a simple catch, as Parry claimed his second wicket in four overs with the score now at 163/3.

However, Lancashire’s recovery was to be thwarted as Lyth and Bairstow added 103 runs for the fourth-wicket stand, as runs continued to flow throughout the afternoon.

The pair added the first 50 runs of their overall partnership in just 58 balls, Bairstow taking the more aggressive route as he smashed Simon Kerrigan for six over long-on to take Yorkshire to their first batting point.

The Yorkshire wicketkeeper raced to his fourth half-century of the season in 53 balls, hitting seven fours on top of the thumping six he had hit earlier. Lyth then went on to register his fifth century of the season in a slightly more conservative manner, taking 213 balls to reach this milestone.

With tea on the horizon, Bairstow was bowled by Steven Croft for 60 attempting to play on the back foot to a full delivery, with Yorkshire a mere 12 runs behind Lancashire’s first-innings total.

Once again a break in play aided the bowling side, as the relatively fresh batsman, Jack Leaning (1), was trapped plumb lbw on the back pad by Kerrigan (1-76) with Yorkshire on 281/5.

At this stage Lancashire were still in with a chance of salvaging a route back into the game, but the wicket of Leaning was to be their final breakthrough of the day, leaving the hosts in a desolate position in this match. 

Lyth and Rashid’s unbeaten stand worth 115 compounded Lancashire’s misery as runs proved easy to come by in the final session at Old Trafford. The hosts seemed to be out of ideas and it showed as Lyth increased his scoring rate with little risk.

The Yorkshire opener went on to reach 150 in 276 deliveries, although Yorkshire failed to up the tempo enough to achieve full batting bonus points, Lancashire also falling short with five wickets claimed at the 110-over mark.