ON MANY occasions over their last two triumphant summers Yorkshire’s batsmen have made the most of good wickets and imposed their will on honest attacks.

Yesterday, some might argue, was payback time. For on a true Scarborough pitch, Middlesex’s top order played some of the most resolute cricket even the crowd at North Marine Road has seen.

Yet Yorkshire are county champions partly because of the way they respond to days in the dirt, and Andrew Gale’s bowlers took four wickets in the last hour to leave the visitors on 470-8 in reply to the White Rose’s first innings of 406.

Jack Brooks, on his return from injury, led the way for Yorkshire by capturing four of the eight wickets his side took and finishing the day with figures of 5-89.

Such wholehearted efforts will almost certainly not help Yorkshire force a win on the final day of this game but they probably reduce the size of the task Yorkshire’s batsmen will face in saving the game and taking five points from the draw.

And who knows how valuable those five points might be come the end of September?

All the same, the third day of this game belonged mainly to Middlesex’s batsmen, and particularly to Stevie Eskinazi, who made his second century in only his third first-class match and whose 316-ball innings was greeted with a standing ovation from the Scarborough crowd.

The majority of Yorkshire’s bowlers did not perform badly yesterday but they were met with the broadest of blades on a true wicket which rewarded diligent batting.

And no one was more diligent than Eskinazi, who had shared in two century partnerships when he pulled a ball from Brooks to midwicket where Kane Williamson, who had dropped the same batsman at slip when he was 84, gratefully pouched the catch

In the morning session Eskinazi extended his third-wicket stand with George Bailey to 121 before Bailey was caught in the gully by Tim Bresnan for 63 when he failed to control an attempted cut off Will Rhodes.

The only success enjoyed by Andrew Gale’s bowlers in the afternoon session came when John Simpson was caught by Bresnan at third slip for 15 when driving Brooks.

Much of the rest of the day was dominated by a 172-run fifth-wicket stand between Eskinazi and his skipper James Franklin, who had made 99 when he was caught by Williamson off Brooks when the ball took a leading edge.

The wicket of Paul Stirling also fell to Brooks, and Ollie Rayner was caught in the deep by Alex Lees off Williamson as Middlesex sought, probably a little unwisely, to push the score along.

Brooks was the main beneficiary of that tactical switch and it left the Yorkshire seamer hopeful that his colleagues could secure the draw today.

“I was pleased with my return but they’ve got a lead so we are going to have to bat very well tomorrow,” he said.

“It’s been a fine game between two good teams and we have to work hard tomorrow because anything can happen, even on a flat wicket.

“We have to bat properly and hope that something funky doesn’t happen with the wicket and they don’t have a mad half-hour – otherwise we could have our backs against the wall.”