Fin Bean shines in the sunshine as Yorkshire take control

Flippancy aside, the sight of the great yellow orb was not to be sniffed at, particularly on the opening day of the season, when the weather is prone to be as miserable as the off-field dramas that have beset this club in recent times.

A little respite, then, from the chaos and confusion, the division and discord, as the actual cricket reclaimed centre stage.

It was a stage dominated by Yorkshire as they scored 285-3 after being sent into bat, Fin Bean, the 20-year-old left-hander, striking 118, his maiden first-class hundred, and Dawid Malan an unbeaten 91, the pair sharing 165 in 33 overs as the hosts made a good start to life in Division Two.

This being April, the month of showers, the day did not pass without interruption, a sudden deluge hitting the ground some 45 minutes after lunch to claim 36 overs. Happily, the heavens relented and the great yellow orb finally reappeared, albeit in a more watery guise than it had been previously.

As Yorkshire advanced pre-interruption to 186-2 in 36.2 overs, and then on to their closing score, a strong breeze buffeted a sparse crowd of under 800. The scorecard (run-rate 4.75 per over) had something of a 'Bazball' look but without any ‘Bazball’; Yorkshire simply picked off opponents who have not won in the tournament for 19 months - and it showed.

"It’s nice to have a knock like that early doors, and hopefully I can build on that and have a successful season,” said Bean, who faced 149 balls and hit 19 fours.

"It’s what you dream of as a kid, scoring a hundred, and it was a special moment.”

Getting to the ground to watch Bean had been something of a feat - there are so many gas works in the Headingley area at present that the place resembles an archaeological dig. Still, the inconvenience was worth it for those Yorkshire supporters who took to their seats in the morning sunshine, a morning on which Leicestershire's decision to bowl first seemed questionable at best and mistaken at worst.

The campaign was just a few balls old when Adam Lyth - standing in as captain for Shan Masood (international commitments) and Jonny Tattersall (finger injury) - unfurled one of those gorgeous cover drives for so long a trademark, easing Chris Wright to the foot of the West Stand.

It signalled the start of Yorkshire’s season as surely as the sound of the collared dove signals the start of spring; the sound off Lyth’s bat echoed around the famous old ground and was followed by murmurs of “shot” and appreciative applause.

At the other end, Bean, who made three Championship appearances last September, having won a rookie deal on the back of a second XI record score of 441 against Nottinghamshire, struck successive offside boundaries off Michael Finan: one punched gloriously off the back foot, the other timed sweetly through the covers.

It was a surprise when Yorkshire suddenly lost a wicket with the score at 35, Lyth pinned by a full-length ball that shaped back just enough from Josh Hull, an 18-year-old, 6ft 7ins pace bowler whose fourth delivery it was in first-class cricket. Hull’s holler of delight could probably have been heard in Hull itself, if perhaps not quite in his native Huntingdon.

Despite making his Test debut during the winter, and impressing one and all, Rehan Ahmed is another youngster very much at the start of his career. Exactly one week younger than Hull, and making only his fifth first-class appearance, Ahmed’s inexperience showed as he conceded 22 runs from a solitary pre-lunch over that contained four boundaries from Bean, who dispatched two full-tosses through the leg-side, swatted him down the ground and then pulled him off the back foot.

It was Finan who made the next breakthrough, James Wharton falling in one of the worst of all ways, strangled down the leg-side to end a promising little innings and a stand of 69 with Bean in 68 balls.

Malan opened his account with a glanced boundary off Wright, and by lunch Yorkshire had reached 134-2 in 27 overs, Bean bringing up his second first-class fifty from 57 balls with 10 fours.

Malan got to the landmark one ball faster and almost unnoticed just before the rain, the England man manipulating the ball deftly and occasionally producing a stylish cover-drive or a savage cross-bat stroke.

After the rain and a three-hour, five-minute delay, Bean and Malan pressed home Yorkshire’s advantage, Bean going to three figures from 132 balls with his 17th boundary, an uppercut off Finan, who had him edging to slip just before stumps.

Malan will resume in pursuit of a a 29th first-class hundred, having faced 127 balls and hit 13 fours.