Adam Lyth and Alex Lees shared Yorkshire’s fourth highest partnership of all time today to keep the county on course for a crucial Championship win over Northamptonshire at Wantage Road.

Double centurion Lyth and centurion Lees shared 375 inside 119 overs of their second innings, also representing Yorkshire’s highest stand since Percy Holmes and Herbert Sutcliffe shared a record 555 against Essex in 1932.

Lyth’s 230 off 398 balls was his second career double, while Lees’s 138 was his first Championship ton of the summer.

The declaration came from Andrew Gale with 24 overs left of today’s third day to set Northants 432, and they closed on 66-3 thanks to two wickets from Tim Bresnan. Jack Brooks picked up the other.

Northants will resume tomorrow morning needing another 366 to win, with Matt Spriegel and Rob Keogh at the crease.

There was also a debut 63 off 64 balls for Aaron Finch, promoted to number three during the afternoon, while 20-year-old Jack Leaning’s 52 not out off 53 represented his maiden first-class fifty.

This was Leaning’s full Championship debut for Yorkshire having only played part of last summer’s home match with Surrey when he was substituted in for England bound Gary Ballance.

He shared 62 inside 13 overs for the third wicket with Finch and an unbroken 60 inside seven for the fourth with Jonny Bairstow (25 not out).

The declaration came after an explosive eight overs of the evening session which saw Leaning and Bairstow both hit huge sixes over mid-wicket.

Lyth is now one of only two batsmen in Division One to have topped 650 runs for the season alongside Nottinghamshire’s Samit Patel.

Yorkshire had to wait nearly 11 overs for the breakthrough in the Northants second innings, but they snared three wickets in 14 balls as the hosts slipped from 31-0 to 32-3 in the 14th.

Bresnan had James Middlebrook caught behind with the last ball of the 11th before getting Stephen Peters caught at second slip by Lyth in the 13th. Brooks then trapped David Sales lbw with the first ball of the 14th.