OFF-SPINNER Adam Lyth took his first wicket of the season in the opening over of the third day’s play at Headingley but Middlesex’s batsmen had built a respectable lead by lunch when the visitors had been bowled out for 229, leaving Yorkshire needing 213 to win their LV= Division One match.

Lyth had Dawid Malan caught at slip by Tim Bresnan for 35 to give Yorkshire an excellent start to the day but the morning was also marked by a series of small but useful stands that make the outcome of this game very difficult to predict.

John Simpson made 15 before he chopped Bresnan onto his stumps and Ollie Rayner hit five fours in his 28, which helped him add 47 for the seventh wicket with James Franklin.

However, Middlesex then lost their last four wickets for 23 runs in 5.2 overs, with Patterson having Rayner caught at short cover by Gary Ballance to start the small collapse.

That subsidence was a triumph for Will Rhodes, who took the last three wickets in 14 balls to finish with 3-42. The Yorkshire Academy player had James Harris lbw for five, Toby Roland-Jones brilliantly caught by Ballance at midwicket for 4 and then bowled Tim Murtagh for 13.

That left Franklin not out on 55 and this game is still too close to call.