Cricket latest: Yorkshire plough on at champions

After Adam Lyth and Joe Sayers had both hit 50s in a century stand for the first wicket, former England Under-19 international Root built upon the solid foundations to compile 89 from 186 balls, hitting 13 fours.

Root only offered one chance - dropped at gully off Steven Mullaney on 88 - as he put on 107 for the fourth wicket with Jonny Bairstow, who also made an unbeaten 50, as Yorkshire closed on 291 for three.

Notts, missing four front-line seamers and with all-rounders Andre Adams and Paul Franks requiring injections to be fit for the match, face an uphill struggle to maintain their 100% start to the season.

The hosts were forced to draft in former Somerset fast bowler Ben Phillips for Charlie Shreck after the seamer was ruled out overnight with a knee problem. Phillips had only recently recovered himself from an ankle injury, and the veteran was left to toil away as Yorkshire batted first on a glorious sunny day.

Lyth and Sayers were both untroubled in the opening session and although the Notts attack bowled with discipline, they did not receive the usual assistance from the Trent Bridge wicket.

The lunch interval prompted a change in fortune as both openers were dismissed in the space of three balls at the start of the afternoon, Sayers edging Luke Fletcher to first slip for 50 off 122 balls with six fours.

Lyth then got in a tangle playing a rising delivery from Franks, spooning his attempted pull shot to mid-on for 57 in an 103-ball innings featuring 10 fours.

And although Andrew Gale was brilliantly caught 20 overs later by Adam Voges, running around from slip in anticipation of a sweep off the spin of Samit Patel, the remainder of the day firmly belonged to Yorkshire.

Root, playing only his sixth first-class match, batted with assurance from the off, hitting boundaries off front and back foot, while Bairstow was similarly confident in hitting seven fours and one straight six off Patel.

Notts had an opportunity to deny Root his maiden hundred late in the day when he pushed at a good length ball from Mullaney but the thick edge was dropped by Neil Edwards at gully, leaving Yorkshire perfectly placed to push on for a match-winning total.

For Chris Waters’s verdict, read Thursday’s Yorkshire Post.