YORK-BASED Jonny Bairstow has called on his Yorkshire colleagues to show their battling qualities on the final day of their LV=County Championship contest against Somerset.

This is after the Tykes lost three late wickets at Taunton to put themselves in a difficult position ahead of day four in the south-west county.

Things appeared to be going Yorkshire’s way for long parts, until Joe Root, Gary Ballance and Steve Patterson all fell in the last seven overs to leave them on 249-6 at the close – a lead of just 155 runs.

“To lose those wickets was obviously unfortunate,” admitted the in-form Bairstow, who is on 80 not out following his knock of 136 from the first innings.

“We have to come back and fight hard though.

“Every wicket is important and we are looking forward to the challenge.

“Who knows what the rest of this match will hold, but we still have lots of batting to come and we are by no means out of this game.”

That might be the case but, for most of the day, it looked like it would be Yorkshire who would be heading into day four holding all the cards.

A spirited bowling display saw them dismiss Somerset for 452, with Adil Rashid ending with four wickets.

The Tykes’ top order then quickly set about rebalancing the first-innings deficit of 94 runs.

Adam Lyth, for 14, and Anthony McGrath, for four, were ousted early.

But captain Andrew Gale soon joined Root at the crease to set about hauling the Tykes back into the match.

By the time the partnership was broken, when Gale was trapped lbw by Peter Trego for 50, the Tykes were building a lead themselves at 117-3.

That optimism continued to increase with former St Peter’s School pupil Bairstow now in the middle with Root, as the two youngsters serenely added 107 runs for the fourth wicket to put Yorkshire in control of the proceedings.

At that stage the lead was at 130, with the Tykes having seven wickets in hand.

Root, though, was clean bowled by Lewis Gregory to provide the catalyst for a collapse that could yet prove so costly.

His disappointment as he trudged off for 67 was obvious for all to see, with a maiden first-class century looking possible.

But what followed was much worse for his team in a later than expected close thanks to early morning rain.

Part-time spinner Arul Suppiah did the damage. He grabbed two wickets in three balls to remove Ballance, for seven, and Patterson, for nought, leaving the Tykes well behind the eight ball.

One thing is for certain, Yorkshire can ill-afford to replicate their late collapse on the final day if they are now to get anything out of this match.