In four of the eight championship matches which started yesterday the team batting first was dismissed for under 200. Headingley was one such match but here Yorkshire, dismissed for 184 in what my newspaper describes as a 'battle for survival', fought back by taking five wickets before stumps and might be said to have a slight advantage when play resumes this morning.
After a delayed start and early lunch the game got underway at 12:40 with 80 overs to be played and tea fixed for 3:10. That Hampshire would exercise their right to insert was hardly in doubt, although interestingly a coin was flipped in 50% of the games, and that they would rely on an attack in which none of the bowlers were born in England almost certain and it was not long before Yorkshire were two down. Raval who has at most three innings left to avoid being spoken of in the same breath as Brathwaite, was bowled by Abbot for 8 and Brook, dropped first ball off the same bowler managed to get down to the other end before being bowled second ball by Edwards for 0. A feature of the Yorkshire innings was the high number of batsmen who had their furniture rearranged, six in all, three to Fidel.
Lyth and Balance pulled things round with a stand of 48 but then three wickets fell for two runs and we sought comfort in Worcestershire's woe at Chelmsford where they had chosen to bat. Bresnan and Waite stopped the rot before becoming further victims of the expensive but dangerous Edwards. A bit of tail end resistance brought hope of a batting point but Abbott returned to settle Brooks' hash and unsettle his stumps. Top scorer was Ballance with 30 and in the process he passed 10000 first class runs. Most economical of the bowlers was Holland, probably the first man born in Wisconsin to take 2 for 16 off 12 overs including 8 maidens at Headingley on a Tuesday.
By the time Yorkshire took the field the sun had finally won its battle with the clouds, assisted by a very strong wind which made one admire the courage of the men working on cherry pickers constructing the new stand. Weatherley and Soames opened for Hants, the latter playing only his third championship match but after some quickfire stuff from the former, Brooks, who else, made the breakthrough, Coad had Soames caught behind and Adams went caught Brook bowled Brooks. Vince looked the part but Northeast whose move from Kent has hardly set the Solent on fire, was removed by Bresnan and before the close Tim had added Vince to his tally. By the time the 80 overs had been completed Hants trailed by 105 and Yorkshire will be hopeful that not too much of that is whittled away this morning. Perhaps worth bearing in mind that Hampshire won the corresponding match last season after being more than one hundred in deficit on first innings.
I believe this is what is known as a library picture. In other words it has appeared on the blog before and sadly does not accurately reflect yesterday's crowd.
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