Masterful White takes Yorkshire to brink of title

Glamorgan 223 Yorkshire 433 for 5

England have developed a curious myopia about the estimable Craig White. They refused to allow him to play county cricket to recover form, chose him when he was miserably out of form and then, when he was clearly back with both bat and ball, in the Roses matches, they ignored him. Being a lad born in Morley and brought up in New South Wales he is clearly too much of a gentleman to say "up yours" to the selectors. He is enjoying making fools of them.

He scored 186 at Old Trafford on 7 August, his career best, and had reached 183, off 373 balls (two sixes, 25 fours) yesterday, one blow from a new personal record, when he was stunningly bowled, neck and crop, by Darren Thomas. Like his epic in Manchester it was an innings of superb timing, the ball flying off the middle in an array of cuts, pulls and drives, including the trademark one through extra cover. He has gone from batsman-bowler to bowler-batsman and back again; he still has time to revert to his adolescent wicket-keeping and off-spin.

White's departure brought Yorkshire's first embarrassment. Darren Lehmann was merciful: he aimed to put Dean Cosker into Copenhagen and gave the bowler a skier, Michael Vaughan played-on to the new ball after a polished 45, and two new batsmen had to seek the 25 needed to bring the fifth batting point. The captain, David Byas, enjoys crises, even minor ones, and he and Anthony McGrath inched their way to the fifth batting point, taking 11 overs. Byas pulled Simon Jones to reach the magic 400 and then hooked him for six to celebrate. Yorkshire now have two days in which to win and thus clinch the Championship.

For Glamorgan it was a long day, mostly in bright sunshine but with a sea breeze. They lost their popular scorer, Byron Denning, to hospital after reporting kidney pain. He is comfortable. Their bowlers might also have been looking for a little tender loving care, too, but they won respect from the crowd for their application.

Glamorgan's one early success was to remove the nightwatchman, Steve Kirby, for a duck, not without a few verbals from Jones, the inevitable reaction to Kirby's own braggadocio. However, back came Matthew Wood, his left cheek stitched from the blow received from Jones on Tuesday evening, to join in another massive partnership with White. To Glamorgan's relief they settled for less than their 303 against Lancashire, 243 in 63 overs being quite enough for the suffering Welshmen.

The pitch was a fraction quicker than on the first day and the overnight showers left the outfield unaffected. The pair took 39 runs off Jones's opening five overs, Wood hooking his second ball for a massive six into the wooden benches. Yesterday's crowd, nearing 6,000, loved it, exuberantly applauding the 50s, the 100s and the partnership figures. White lifted Cosker into the pavilion balcony and the lunch interval brought a standing ovation.

The stand was Yorkshire's third highest in the history of the ground when Cosker got a ball past both Wood's bat and his front pad to end an innings of 240 balls, including two sixes and 18 fours. Before mild-mannered Yorkshire members make polite enquiries of the committee as to why a man with nine centuries is still waiting for his county cap, the answer is that he will soon be presented one.

The Festival is always made complete by the Scalby High School Big Band and big it certainly is – six saxophones, seven trombones and nine trumpets plus rhythm. If they ever get to play Stan Kenton they'll blow down Trafalgar Square.