The Yorkshire head coach, Jason Gillespie, could find no fault in the efforts of his bowling attack, despite spending his 41st birthday watching only three wickets fall as Hampshire ground their way past the follow-on mark at Headingley to leave the draw looming.
Defiance came predominantly in the form of the Zimbabwean Sean Ervine, whose 123 over five hours and 20 minutes at the crease lived up to his nickname “Slug” before Ryan McLaren’s 77-ball half-century from No9 took the visitors to apparent safety in the penultimate over of the day.
Ervine’s vigil, ended with 14 overs remaining when Ryan Sidebottom teased the edge of the left-hander’s bat for his 1,000th wicket across all formats, provided the ballast for Hampshire’s 450 for eight in 147 overs, an innings of contrast to the home side’s 593 for nine declared in 118 during the first two days .
“I’m proud of the lads, they’ve put in a real shift,” Gilllespie said. “With Hampshire avoiding the follow-on, it’s made a result a little more difficult but we will be certainly going into the final day with the attitude of trying to force a win. How it pans out, we’ll have to wait and see.”
Ervine did not only resist temptation but also pain. The 33-year-old will undergohave an x-ray on a suspected broken left index finger on his return to Southampton at the end of the match, having been pinned by Liam Plunkett during a hostile spell from the England fast bowler in the morning.
“It’s a little bit of a worry,” said Ervine, who missed two months of last season with an injury to the same digit. “We were batting for the game, though. Yorkshire had put us on the back foot and guys needed to step up. We’ve been crying out for hundreds for championship cricket.”
The Hampshire captain, James Vince, had earlier set the standard for this rearguard, converting his overnight 74 into an 18th first-class century, making 119 from 221 balls to show why his name will feature in the selection debate for England’s first Test with Sri Lanka on this ground next month.
The wicketkeeper Adam Wheater, 62 from 140 balls, allied with Ervine for a stand of 143 in 47.2 overs as the home side threw everything at the pair in a wicketless afternoon in which even the lesser-spotted looping leg-spin of Gary Ballance was deployed before tea, when the solitary six of the innings was struck.
Assistance for the visitors came in the conditions. The sun shone all day to see the pitch go as flat as some of the caps in the crowd, offering little lateral movement and only slow turn for Adil Rashid. Steve Patterson, two for 75 from 31 overs, was the pick after nagging away in the workhorse fashion that has made him so key to the club’s back-to-back titles.
Vince would be his first victim, the solitary strike of the morning session, padding up to an inswinger that gave umpire Stephen Gale a simple lbw decision, before a rare false shot from Wheater after tea chipped to the ball to mid-wicket and offered Yorkshire a way in.
It took Sidebottom’s landmark wicket – a contrived statistic, perhaps, coming across three formats – to break Ervine’s concentration, with Hampshire still 53 runs short of the follow-on. However, McLaren and Chris Wood, 28 not out, kept their focus in an unbroken 59-run stand that should ensure injury-struck Hampshire open their campaign with back-to-back draws.
On Sidebottom’s milestone, which left him with three for 78 in the innings, Gillespie added: “1,000 wickets is testament to the lad. He’s in his 19th season of first-class cricket as a bowler – and that’s a hell of an effort. He’s got drive, he’s got ambition and is a credit to himself and this club.”
