Sayers ton puts Tykes in command (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Sayers ton puts Tykes in command

10:50pm Thursday 2nd July 2009

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An outstanding performance from Joe Sayers put Yorkshire in sight of their first County Championship win of the season at Taunton today.

The opener showed immense character and concentration to bat for nearly the entire day and rack up a score of 152 to help the Tykes reach stumps with a huge lead of 431.

Sayers ignored exhaustion to stay at the crease for just under six hours in increasingly humid conditions and doggedly refused to budge until the final ball of the day as Yorkshire pondered an overnight declaration on 329 for five.

“I’m very tired,” he said. “But after getting big runs it’s a very good tiredness.

“I wanted this second hundred to back up my big score at Edgbaston,” he added. “I needed it to prove to myself more than anyone that I can do this consistently.

“We’ve been talking about the need to have someone to build an innings around.

“We’ve had a few players over the last few weeks getting scores and getting out.

“You need big centurions to win County Championship matches and thankfully I was the second Yorkshire player to do that in this match.”

Earlier, Somerset lost their final wicket inside two overs when Matthew Hoggard completed his five-for to give Yorkshire a first-innings lead of 112.

Jacques Rudolph went for a second-ball duck to pile the pressure on the Tykes but they reacted superbly.

Although Sayers was the glue that held together the innings, support elsewhere was more than welcome. Adam Lyth has been starved of action for much of this season but he underlined his potential with an excellent 71.

Andrew Gale came and went for 16 later in the day but Jonathan Bairstow increased the run rate dramatically with an unbeaten half-century from 52 balls.

Yorkshire enjoyed some fortune earlier on when three good chances were put down – including Sayers, who was dropped from a regulation chance by James Hildreth at gully on 30. He was eventually removed with the last ball of the day when Zander de Bruyn rattled his middle stump to bring an end to a potentially match-winning contribution.

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