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Rudolph places Yorkshire on the road to recovery
WHILE Michael Vaughan was delivering his valedictory press conference at Edgbaston, the Yorkshire team he had left behind were embarking on the task of saving their season.
Elimination from the Friends Provident Trophy and the Twenty20 Cup had come as a bitter blow to a club who thought they had transformed their one-day fortunes, and failure to win at Taunton would set a club record of 18 first-class matches without a victory.
Small wonder Yorkshire captain Anthony McGrath had threatened "massive changes" unless results improve between now and the end of the summer, with Yorkshire having failed to register a County Championship win since their last visit to Taunton a little over a year ago.
It will take considerably more than an isolated success in the shadow of the Quantock hills to stem a debilitating decline but, on a horribly humid and overcast day in the West Country, McGrath's men put themselves into a handy – if not quite dominant – position after the captain won the toss on a typically flat pitch.
With his side down on their haunches and short of confidence, McGrath must have had visions of calling incorrectly and then watching Justin Langer and Marcus Trescothick – arch accumulators of this parish – stockpiling happily to their hearts' content.
Instead it was his team-mate Jacques Rudolph who made hay on the affable surface with an innings of 191 that underpinned a total of 375-7, the South African falling narrowly short of a double hundred for the second time this summer after making 198 against Worcestershire at Headingley Carnegie.
Remarkably, perhaps uniquely in a season of abject batting frailties, the day did not contain the usual clatter of wickets so depressingly familiar to Yorkshire's supporters.
At the same time, the visitors would have been disappointed that only Rudolph passed 40 and that they stumbled somewhat towards the end having been 338-4 before their star man fell.
After the teams emerged on a grey morning from the new Andy Caddick Pavilion, an ungainly structure situated side-on to the square that could pass for a superior ski chalet on an Alpine resort, Yorkshire embarked on their quest to make sizeable runs.
There was an early setback when Joe Sayers was undone by a good one from Alfonso Thomas that nipped back and bowled him in the eighth over, but Yorkshire suffered no further casualties before going into lunch on 104-1.
Rudolph got his eye in with a sprinkling of off-side boundaries on his way to a half-century from 81 deliveries, while McGrath proved the perfect foil as Yorkshire resisted the temptation to tinker with their batting order following Vaughan's exit.
There were only two other moments of concern for the visitors during the opening session. First, McGrath suffered a nasty blow first ball when he was struck around the left ear by a bouncer from Thomas that necessitated a six-minute delay while McGrath received treatment and, second, Rudolph was yorked off an Andy Caddick no-ball when on 32.
It was a frustrating day for former England bowler Caddick, who heaved his weary 40-year-old bones through 16 wicket-less overs in the airless heat and produced a couple of laughably unsuccessful attempts to stop the ball in the field.
McGrath fell to the fifth ball after lunch when he was brilliantly caught low to his right by wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter off Peter Trego, having scored 40 from 61 deliveries with seven fours.
Adam Lyth – recalled to the side following Vaughan's departure – gave Rudolph good support as the pair added 118 in 22 overs, Lyth contributing 36 before bottom-edging an attempted pull off the bowling of Zander de Bruyn to James Hildreth at cover.
Andrew Gale missed out when he perished shortly before tea, caught at second slip by Marcus Trescothick off Charl Willoughby, but Rudolph ploughed on and on.
The 28-year-old brought up his hundred from 145 deliveries, took a further 62 balls over his third half-century and looked all set for his second double hundred for the county before being bowled aiming a tired smear through the off-side at David Stiff.
Yorkshire, who handed pace bowler James Lee his first Championship appearance for almost three years after deciding to leave out Deon Kruis, slipped to 370-6 when Azeem Rafiq was caught by Kieswetter off Thomas, the same combination accounting for Jonathan Bairstow in the final over to take a little of the gloss off Yorkshire's day.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -2 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North west
