Left-hand spinner Gurman Randhawa, above, took three wickets in each innings and hit 40 in Yorkshire's first knock as the Seconds beat a Kent-Northamptonshire XII by 21 runs in their Friendly match at Beckenham.

A strange feature of the play came at lunchtime when fourth-wicket pair Sam Northeast and James Goodman had put on 65 and the Kent-Northamptonshire total had reached 192 - nearly half way to the target. Both were told that they had been called up to the Kent first team - and both had to retire not out.

DAY 4: The last hour had started when Randhawa delivered the fourth ball of the 35th over of his one and only spell of the innings - he began the spell half an hour before lunch...he bowled throughout the two-hour afternoon session...and the evening session was into its second and last hour when he trapped Ball leg-before, much to the delight of his teammates.

It was the 10th and final wicket - Yorkshire had done it.

The day began with nightwatchman Warren Lee dismissed in the third over. Northeast then joined Ben Howgego in a third-wicket stand of 73 before Randhawa took the catch to dismiss Howgego off James Lee. Goodman joined Northeast in a partnership that prospered until they were both told to go.

By agreement both batsmen retired not out to be replaced by Chris Piesley and 12fth man Phil Edwards, both of whom would be allowed to bat. Three more wickets fell during the afternoon as 140 runs were added. Even occasional spinners Joe Sayers and Joe Root had a go - and it was Sayers who effected the breakthrough, Piesley caught by Lee off the first ball of his second over.

Paul Dixey was run out going for a suicidal second run, and Paul Harrison was adjudged leg-before, much to his displeasure. The combined side had four wickets left at tea, and had closed to within 76 runs of the target. Immediately after the break Randhawa caught and bowled Rob Newton, and Root got into the act, trapping David Lucas leg-before.

A 50-run stand for the ninth wicket - remember the tail wagging in their first innings? - put the ball back into the batting side’s court. With a couple of dozen needed Oliver Hannon-Dalby hit Khalid on the pads, and the umpire said it was in front. That was that, the 10th wicket going down four runs later.

The Seconds worked hard in the field for this result, and it was a happy team that boarded the coach. There is now a week’s break in the team’s fixtures: Trophy and Championship matches at York the following week are next on the list.

DAY 3: Gary Ballance followed his first-innings 84 with 58 in the second as Yorkshire Seconds set a Kent-Northamptonshire XII a crushing 408 to make to win.

The Kent-Northamptonshire tail did wag a little! Although the ninth wicket was taken in the seventh over the last two batsmen, Warren Lee and Shaftab Khalid, stayed for a further 80 minutes and added 74. Kent-Northamptonshire were all out for 257 - a deficit of 219 and all set to follow on...if Yorkshire wished, which they did not.

Further batting was on the Rosebuds’ minds than bowling, and their second innings began a quarter of an hour before lunch. There were no alarms in the four overs to the break - but the openers did not survive too long afterwards. Joe Root was leg-before in the seventh over of the innings, and Joe Sayers likewise in the 10th.

Gary Ballance was more successful: replacing Root, he batted up to and beyond the tea interval - scoring what was to be the only 50 of the innings as batsmen came and went, runs were scored and wickets lost. With the lead extended to 407 the declaration came.

Eight overs of the day remained, and Vishal Tripathi started as though there were no tomorrow - striking five fours in his 26 off 24 balls before he was caught down the leg side by wicket-keeper Jordan Lowe in Oliver Hannon-Dalby’s last over of the day.

That was that for Day 3. Ninety-six overs to be bowled on the fourth - 369 runs to be scored or nine wickets to be taken for victory. Today's result is anybody’s guess!

DAY 2: Paceman Oliver Hannon-Dalby took 4-55 as Yorkshire kept the upper hand. Yorkshire took their first innings to 476 - and by the close their hosts had subsided to 177-8, with Yorkshire still 299 ahead.

 The nightwatchmen did not last for long - James Lee caught behind off the sixth ball he faced, and Lee Hodgson trapped leg-before on his 10th. Wicket-keeper Jordan Lowe lasted for six balls, too.

The situation then changed for the better: Dan Wheeldon joined left-hand spinner Gurman Randhawa in a stand of 70, which took the total well past 400. Both the triallist, who scored 35, and the Academician, with 40, were caught behind to end the innings.

Northamptonshire's David Lucas - who boasted Yorkshire among his previous employers - and Philip Edwards both picked up a five-for. Lucas was the more economical, conceding 76 runs.

The joint counties began their innings on the stroke of 2pm...two wickets were down by tea, both to Lee, with 85 on the board, and three more came in a devastating second spell by Hannon-Dalby. Ben Howgego, who passed 50 in the first over of Hannon-Dalby's spell, was caught behind off the first ball of the fourth. Then in the fifth two leg-befores left the hosts five down for 110.

Forty runs were then scored before Moin Ashraf bowled Rob Newton, and 20 runs later Randhawa bowled Lucas with his ninth delivery. With the last ball of the day Hannon-Dalby picked up his fourth scalp as James Goodman was well caught down the leg side by wicket-keeper Lowe.

Eight wickets down, 299 runs behind Yorkshire! The tail will have to wag very well indeed to avoid the follow-on. Surely that is beyond them?

DAY 1: A 114 for Charlie Roebuck and 84 for Gary Ballance led the way as Yorkshire Seconds ran up 387-5 on what has become their annual pilgrimage to Metropolitan Kent to play a combined Kent and Northamptonshire team - 12 in number, six from each county - but it was a hesitant start after Yorkshire captain Joe Sayers had won the toss and decided to bat.

Only 14 runs came in the first nine overs to the Joes, Root and Sayers. The 10nth, bowled by Phil Edwards, Man of Kent, saw both dismissed - Sayers caught behind and Root leg-before.

The arrival of Gary Ballance and Callum Geldart saw the scoring rate pick up, and in the 19 overs to lunch 75 runs were scored. Ballance was first to his 50 in the early afternoon, but Geldart was caught behind after reaching his - to end a stand of 128 for the third wicket.

Ballance fell when he had scored 84, caught by Sam Northeast in Edwards’s third spell, but his fourth-wicket partner, Roebuck, had passed the 50 mark by this point and, encouraged by the incoming Lee Hodgson, doubled his score to reach his first century for the Seconds.

Roebuck's innings included 11 fours and two sixes, but he was caught at 114, his partnership with Hodgson worth 122 for the fifth wicket. By this time, Hodgson was two short of his 50 - the fourth of the innings - and he passed it soon after James Lee had joined him. These two saw it out to the close - a creditable 387 coming off the day’s 96 overs.

Words and Statistics: MICHAEL SNOOK