YORKSHIRE’S stand-in captain Gary Ballance defended his decision not to enforce the follow-on as the White Rose county dominated the second day of their Championship clash with Nottinghamshire.

Having posted 282 in their first innings, the Tykes then secured a lead of 188 as their seamers combined to bowl the visitors out for 94.

But instead of putting relegation-threatened Notts back in, Yorkshire chose to bat themselves and were able to stretch their lead to 388 by the close, with Ballance leading the way on 75 not out.

Despite there being some rain forecast that could delay play today, Ballance was keen to stress that he was keen not to bat last on a wicket that is still offering some help to the bowlers.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better day,” he said. “We knew the pitch would help our bowlers this morning and they used it perfectly.

“They bowled great lines and lengths and ended up bowling them out for 94. Then for the batters to get stuck in and get us a big lead puts us in a great position.

“We thought with a lead of 190 and knowing the pitch is only going to get better in the afternoon, we didn’t want to bat last on this wicket like we did against Middlesex a few weeks ago.

“There we got bowled out in a day and it was quite tough, so we thought if we could get a big lead and rest the bowlers up, then we could come out with the boys refreshed.

“It’s done a bit and normally the Scarborough wickets do deteriorate, so hopefully it does. If not, we’ve got a big lead already with six sessions to go, and there’s a lot of time left in the game.”

Nottinghamshire began the day on 38-2, but Ryan Sidebottom soon reduced them to 52-5 as he took the wickets of Michael Lumb, Steven Mullaney and Samit Patel in the space of 12 balls.

Notts captain Chris Read then mistimed a pull and was caught at cover from Jack Brooks’s fourth ball of the morning, and the same bowler accounted for Brett Hutton.

Brendan Taylor had been dropped by Tim Bresnan earlier in the piece, but he was eventually bowled by Steven Patterson via an inside edge before Bresnan rounded off the innings with the final two wickets.

That left Ballance with a decision to make, and having chosen to bat again, openers Adam Lyth and Alex Lees wasted no time in looking to hammer home Yorkshire’s advantage.

They put on 72 for the first wicket before Lees (30) – who had earlier hit Mullaney for four fours in as many balls – was trapped LBW by Hutton.

Lyth (41) followed shortly after as he offered a return catch to Luke Wood from a leading edge, but Ballance and Jake Lehmann continued to keep Notts on the back foot with a 61-run partnership.

They were eventually parted by Patel as Lehmann (35) tried one big shot too many and was caught at mid-on, and though Jack Leaning was dismissed by the same bowler, Yorkshire closed in the ascendancy on 200-4.

Ballance remains unbeaten having been dropped by Tom Moores after he had made just 20, and revealed at stumps that he is happy to bat on and take the lead towards 500.