Gale calls it right as Yorkshire enjoy day batting

The outfield was damp after early morning rain, the skies were grey over nearby Lumley Castle, and overhead conditions seemed perfect for bowling.

“We’ll have a bat,” said Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale when the coin landed in his favour.

Cue the hint of a smile from Collingwood, his Durham counterpart, that possibly concealed a sense of relief.

Come close of play, it was Gale who was smiling after his courageous decision to bat paid off.

Led by Adam Lyth’s 104 and Kane Williamson’s 97, Yorkshire scored 299-3 in the bowler-friendly conditions, the highest total by a visiting team at Chester-le-Street since Worcestershire’s 288 in September 2011.

To put that into further context, it was only the third time in 16 games that a visiting side had claimed even one batting point at the Riverside ground.

The others, for the record, were Sussex (211) in 2012 and Warwickshire (209) last year.

That is not to say that Gale’s decision met universal approval.

Some Yorkshire supporters milling around the stadium agreed with it; others did not.

Paul Allott, speaking on the commentary that boomed out of the press box television, summed it up when he said during the 
afternoon session that “it’s looking like a good decision to bat first but the right decision was to bowl”.

Everyone, it seemed, had a different point of view.

If anyone doubted Gale, however, who returned as captain after dropping himself for the previous game, he need only have retorted: “Look at the scoreboard.”

That told a tale of Yorkshire dominance as the champions struggled to make an impression.

Had Durham exploited the help on offer, Gale might possibly have rued his choice.

As it was, they bowled into Yorkshire’s hands, not making them play often enough.

Gale’s decision was even bolder when one considers Yorkshire are without Joe Root and Gary Ballance.

Both are part of England’s 13-man squad for Friday’s one-day international against Scotland, with Gale back in place of Root and Jonny Bairstow in for Ballance after recovering from a broken finger.

Any fears that Yorkshire’s batting might be exposed were quickly quashed.

Gale, the No 4, did not even get in until 4.20pm, prior to which he could only watch in admiration as Lyth and Williamson added 179 for the second wicket in 55 overs.

With Tim Bresnan playing his first match of the season in place of Steve Patterson, Yorkshire had a much-changed team from the one beaten by seven wickets against Middlesex at Lord’s, where the home side knocked off 472 – the third-highest chase in Championship history.

Under the circumstances, it was imperative that Yorkshire started well and they were assisted by wayward work from the new-ball pair of Graham Onions and Chris Rushworth.

Both struggled to control the exaggerated movement, as though grappling to keep hold of a kite in high winds.

It took the introduction of left-arm pace bowler Jamie Harrison to bring the breakthrough, Alex Lees following a wide delivery into the wicketkeeper’s gloves after 40 minutes’ play.

It should have been 38-2 but Harrison overstepped the front line when Lyth, on 13, was caught at third slip by Michael Richardson.

Harrison, who curiously hops up and down before starting his run-up, as though impersonating a rabbit, posed more problems than most.

However, Lyth and Williamson were able to counter by playing with their bats close to their bodies, Lyth, in particular, reigning in his usual aggression.

They took Yorkshire to 87-1 at lunch – riches that had seemed unlikely at the start.

The sun came out in the afternoon session, which Lyth began with a blaze of boundaries. The left-hander went to 50 from 96 balls with seven fours, the fourth time he has passed that mark in the Championship this season.

Lyth had another slice of fortune when he was dropped on 88 by Scott Borthwick at second slip off Mark Wood, Collingwood just failing to seize the rebound at first slip.

You know it is your day when you are dropped twice off the same ball, and after Williamson went to his half-century from 117 balls with seven fours, Lyth reached his hundred from 171 deliveries with his 15th boundary – an uppish cut off Collingwood that was almost caught low down at point.

Lyth fell to his first ball after tea, caught at second slip off Harrison by Borthwick, who was unable to bowl after spilling him earlier.

Williamson’s innings was all touch and timing; he waited for the bad balls and dispatched them clinically.

The New Zealander had a life on 92 when Phil Mustard, wrong-footed, just got an outstretched right glove on an edge off Wood, and Williamson had equalled his previous best for Yorkshire – against Durham at Scarborough last August – when he was bowled by Rushworth with the second new ball.

Gale, who one ball earlier had been dropped on 17 by Kumar Sangakkara at third slip off Onions, fought through to the close with Bairstow, Yorkshire ending in a dominant position.