Billy Root shines on a poignant day at Headingley with a helping hand from brother Joe

At Headingley - in touching scenes mirrored up and down the land - the players wore black armbands and observed a minute’s silence in front of the pavilion.

As they stood in tribute beneath slate-grey skies, many of those Yorkshire players must have recalled the final game here last season, when Baker scored the runs that secured Worcestershire’s promotion back to Division One.

From scenes of celebration that day to ones of sombre reflection a few months later… a reminder of life’s ephemeral nature.

On a day when the sport grieved before the latest round of Championship games, from Headingley in the north to Taunton in the south, the action in Leeds proceeded against this solemn backdrop.

It was a day when the weather - as though in keeping with that solemn feel - permitted just 41 of the 96 overs, with no play possible between 1.45pm and 5.30pm due to rain.

In the cricket seen, Glamorgan, after choosing to bat, reached 109-4, Billy Root top-scoring with 51 after being dropped at first slip on six by his brother, Joe, diving to his right, when Ben Coad found the outside edge.

It was perhaps the first time that this has happened since the two used to play together as children in the back garden. One day, they’ll be able to laugh about it, no doubt, but the look on Joe’s face said it all.

In truth it wasn’t an easy chance, the ball flying quickly to Root senior, who was maybe a fraction late to react. It certainly wasn’t the sort of opportunity you want pinging to you after just 10 minutes’ play on a gloomy morning, one on which the floodlights were used.

Glamorgan’s decision to bat seemed courageous given the skies and the forecast, and was possibly taken with more than an eye on the fact that the game is being played on a used pitch.

Yorkshire, in fact, fielded two specialist spinners in a Championship match at Headingley for the first time since 2013 according to statistical sources, who should be blamed if that is incorrect (addresses can be provided on request).

Adil Rashid and Azeem Rafiq were the spinners in question 11 years ago; Warwickshire the opponents in a rain-affected draw.

If the novelty of Yorkshire fielding two specialist spinners at Headingley wasn’t sufficiently stirring, with Dan Moriarty recalled and Dom Bess picked for the first time this season, Moriarty was introduced inside the opening half hour, surely some sort of record since the pitches were covered.

By my reckoning, The Dickie Bird Clock - the finest timepiece in the whole wide world - was showing 11.29 when Moriarty came on from The Howard Stand end, four minutes after Coad had taken the day’s first wicket, trapping Ed Byrom leg-before.

Moriarty thus had a new batsman in his sights in Sam Northeast, who walked out to a smattering of applause from the sparsely populated stand that bears his surname.

One has cracked the joke before, but when Northeast played three games on loan at Yorkshire in 2021, he became the first man to have had a stand named after him at Headingley before he had actually made his debut (not bad for someone who then went on to score just four runs in his three innings).

Levity aside, Moriarty was straight into his work, keeping things tight and challenging the batsmen, who set about recovering from Byrom’s departure.

Root and Northeast played well, in fact, with the left-handed Root especially impressive as he drove fluently and pulled powerfully.

There is a touch of elegance about Root junior, a quality that clearly runs in the family. He used his feet well and played with a deft touch; no doubt Joe would have appreciated some of the strokeplay.

Yorkshire, who left out George Hill and Jordan Thompson from the squad that was named, looked set for a frustrating morning before Root perished to the final ball of the session.

He pushed forward to a delivery from Moriarty that spooned up and was caught at short-leg by Fin Bean, with the bowler and fielders adamant that there was bat involved.

Root, who appeared to disagree, made 51 from 95 balls with six fours, sharing in a stand with Northeast worth 74. Only one over was possible when the players returned for the afternoon session before the weather took a turn for the worse.

That looked like being it for the day but Glamorgan lost two more wickets in the eight overs bowled when the cricket resumed, a costly passage before the final nine overs were lost to bad light.

Northeast was run-out at the non-striker’s end when Matty Fisher deflected a drive from Kiran Carlson into the stumps, and then Bess – brought back into the attack because of the light – had Carlson driving back a return catch.

This was a day, however, when the cricket itself took a backseat and the game remembered one of its own.