Yorkshire 298 (Carson 5-79) and 138 for 3 (Lyth 69*, Hope 53*) need a further 63 to beat Sussex 361 and 137 (Bess 3-36)
One bad session. It's the sort of thing good teams guard against - and that Sussex have been looking to eradicate from their cricket after three dispiriting red-ball campaigns. The home side controlled this contest for the first two days but suffered a disastrous second-innings collapse to open the door for Yorkshire, who were then guided by unbeaten fifties from Adam Lyth and Shai Hope in their chase of 201 to win.
The game was not beyond salvaging for Sussex, who endured more than a few jitters in getting to a target of 231 eight-down against Durham here two weeks ago. Those prospects would have increased had Tom Alsop held an outside edge from Hope in the dying overs of the day - but as things stand, a grim weather forecast for Sunday looks like being Sussex's best chance of avoiding defeat.
While the final session was punctuated by cries of "Yorkshire! Yorkshire!" from the scattering of visiting support, there had been a good deal of chirping from Sussex as they strove to stay in contention. Home irritation centred on a moment in the 18th over when Hope was given not out despite having wandered out of his crease before wicketkeeper Oli Carter threw down the stumps. Hope had clearly tapped his bat before the bails fell and square leg umpire Neil Pratt declined the appeal - presumably having decided that the ball was already dead.
Grant Flower, Sussex's batting coach, was in no doubt after play about the "average umpiring" that led to Hope's reprieve. "We noticed that he had left his crease once or twice in the first innings and in the second, so we thought if he did it again, we'd run him out. Which was the case, his bat wasn't in the ground and he hadn't got permission from our fielders to leave the crease so the ball wasn't dead."
"It's annoying. The score was 54 for 3, the game was totally in the balance. [He's their] overseas player, it could have turned the match."
The Hove groundsman has been instructed to leave more grass on the pitches this season and there was up-and-down bounce in evidence, with seven lbws given in Sussex's second innings - but after Fynn Hudson-Prentice's two-wicket burst left Yorkshire 39 for 3, the chances all but dried up. On a day in which 16 wickets fell it was the unbroken stand between Lyth and Hope that looked like being decisive.
It might not feature on Maslow's hierarchy of needs but those on the playing side at Yorkshire will have been craving nothing more than a first win of the season, after another winter of off-field discontent was followed by defeat and a washout in their opening Division Two fixtures. Lyth and Hope will get the plaudits should the points be secured but the turnaround would not have been possible without a much-improved bowling performance, held together by Dom Bess's 3 for 36 from 16.1 overs, as well the tail-end humpty of No. 11 Ben Coad.
This game took the first of several sharp turns shortly after Yorkshire's ninth wicket had gone down on the third morning, at which point Sussex were sitting on a lead of 121. As in the Sussex innings, the last pair added a valuable half-century stand - though the way in which Coad and Mickey Edwards rattled off 59 runs in the space of seven overs brought an almost-palpable change to the atmosphere around the 1st Central County Ground.
Coad batted like the angry fast bowler he very much does not appear to be, harrumphing five sixes in an innings of 45 off 32 balls that set Sussex nerves on edge. And although Jack Carson ended his fun to claim a third first-class five-for - and first since Sussex lost a similarly close-fought game against Yorkshire here two years ago - it was soon Coad Red for the home side as two wickets fell in the Yorkshire seamer's sixth over, following an opening partnership of 41 that had pushed the Sussex lead back into three figures.
That the first of ten wickets to fall for the addition of 96 runs was via a run-out perhaps added to the sense of foreboding. There was certainly ill luck about Ali Orr's dismissal for 26, as Coad got fingertips to a Tom Haines drive - that is until you consider that Orr has now been run out backing up in identical fashion in each of his last three Championship appearances. It won't be long before the opposition analysts start claiming them.
Alsop fell lbw to his first ball, but the presence in the middle of Haines and the captain, Cheteshwar Pujara - Sussex's two most-reliable batters - prompted the thought at lunch that a session of steady accumulation was the likeliest outcome. Instead, after easing along to 61 for 2 and a lead of 124, both fell in the space of two Jordan Thompson overs and Sussex duly shipped 8 for 76 to cede their position of strength.
Haines was caught behind driving on the up, before Thompson removed Pujara in much the same fashion as the first innings - beating him on the inside with a straight one. Tom Clark's poor start to the season - he has scores of 4, 22, 1 and 4 - continued when he was hit on the pads by Bess, and by now Yorkshire had more than a sniff, despite Hudson-Prentice counterattacking effectively with 30 out of a stand of 39 for the sixth wicket.
On the Sussex livestream, thoughts were already turning to the chase: "175 will be hard to get," was the view of one sage, while a follower of the home side averred that "another 100 should do it". But on the field, their chances of even getting to 200 in front were quickly dwindling, as Matthew Fisher won lbw decisions against Hudson-Prentice and Nathan McAndrew, and at the other end Carson was winkled out by Bess.
Ollie Robinson fell to a sharp catch at slip by Lyth, giving Edwards a first Yorkshire wicket, although there was still time for the visitors to make life harder for themselves by missing two chances to take the last wicket, both off Bess - a low edge from Henry Crocombe put down by Lyth and Hope unable to complete the stumping of Carter. Shakeel had also shelled a straightforward catch off Orr at the start of the innings - but it was Sussex who had dropped the ball by the close.
