Adam Lyth and Tom Kohler-Cadmore look a Yorkshire opening pair to be reckoned with

At 11AM precisely a man all dressed in white stood on a patch of grass holding a small red ball in the palm of his hand.

The man began running towards little three sticks protruding from the ground past an older man who was standing still with his back to him and wearing a white coat.

No sooner had the man with the ball reached the three little sticks than he propelled the ball in the direction of another man who was standing about 22 yards away in front of another set of three little sticks protruding from the ground.

This man was holding a bat and had gloves on his hands, pads on his legs and a helmet on his head – everything, it seemed, apart from a face mask.

We scratched our heads, the few of us present to witness this spectacle, for no one could remember anything quite like it, until somebody pointed out that we were, in fact, watching something called “cricket” – a sport last seen at Headingley 10 long months ago.

“Ah yes, cricket,” we said, wondering how we could have been so silly and forgotten so easily. They played cricket a lot before Covid-19.

For the record, the man with the ball in his hand was Lancashire’s Tom Bailey, and the man holding the bat was Yorkshire’s Adam Lyth, who pushed the first delivery of this two-day friendly out to square-leg for no run as Bailey began proceedings with a maiden.

When the scoreboard failed to register these details, as it was not then working, it felt as if normality had been completely restored and we had never been away. Teething problems, of course, were entirely understandable.

Once the scoreboard problems had been resolved, not that there were any spectators around to benefit, Yorkshire kept it ticking handsomely as they totalled 337-5 from 90 overs.

In bright sunshine, Adam Lyth led the way with a magnificent, unbeaten 108, the 32-year-old retiring at the tea break to give someone else a go, opening partner Tom Kohler-Cadmore assembling a fine 70 as they shared 170 in 42 overs.

This is not what you would call a “proper game”, as it were, with the plan always for Yorkshire to bat on day one and Lancashire on day two as both clubs prepare for the start of the season.

But proper match or not, there is always a competitive element when the Roses rivals meet, and it was simply good to see cricket again, with members of both clubs able to tune in via live stream.

They watched some probing bowling early on from Bailey and Graham Onions, and some increasingly excellent batting from Lyth and Kohler-Cadmore, who complemented each other well.

They have the look of an opening partnership that could serve Yorkshire strongly in first-class cricket having already proved their worth in tandem in the one-day game. The fact that one is left-handed and the other right-handed is an added bonus.

Lyth, the left-hander, did have a slice of luck when dropped on two by Liam Hurt at square-leg off Bailey. Otherwise, he looked in good form, a typically classy cover-driven boundary off Bailey perhaps final confirmation that cricket has returned.

Lyth pulled a six off Hurt and another off Onions as he made full use of a short square boundary towards the East Stand, both openers reaching their half-centuries from 84 balls as they took Yorkshire into lunch on 101-0 from 28 overs.

The over-rate would have been better but for the fact that play had to be stopped every six overs so that the ball could be cleaned and fielders could sanitise their hands. On a day when the wearing of face masks in shops became compulsory in England, it smacked of another overblown measure.

It would have needed a pair of blindfolds, let alone a pair of face masks, to stop the progress of the Yorkshire openers, who picked off runs for fun as if they had been doing so for weeks on end.

Lancashire did not help themselves at times; Onions put down Kohler-Cadmore on 65 at mid-on off Bailey, although Tom Hartley, a 22-year-old left-arm spinner, pulled off a worldie to remove the same batsman a short time later, thrusting out his left hand to take a scorching drive off his own bowling to finally break the first-wicket stand.

Lyth reached his hundred from 143 balls with 14 fours to go with two sixes, and Will Fraine – on the way back from knee surgery –contributed 28 including two sixes off Hartley.

Fraine was caught behind on the stroke of tea, at which point Yorkshire had 211-2 and Lyth walked off having batted for four hours and faced 166 balls.

Thus Yorkshire had two new batsmen at the start of the last session, youngsters Harry Brook and Tom Loten taking the total to 250 before Brook was caught behind for 31 off Onions, who trapped Loten four balls later for seven.

Jonny Tattersall was lbw to Josh Bohannon for 13, the two Matthews, Fisher and Waite, contributing 43 and 25 respectively in a classy unbroken stand of 48.

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