Somerset v Yorkshire: Yorkshire in control after Lyth and Gale find form

The debate as to who should open the batting for England alongside captain Alastair Cook is set to gather momentum in the build-up to the Ashes.

One man who it will not be is Yorkshire’s Adam Lyth.

But as you watched him stroke a century at Taunton yesterday, as Yorkshire made 341-5 after winning the toss, you wondered how Lyth has managed to slip so far off the England radar as to be visible only through a high-powered telescope.

It was only three short years ago that Lyth was being spoken of as an outside bet for the 2010-11 Ashes.

The left-hander had scored 1,509 first-class runs during the 2010 season and was the first in the country to the 1,000-mark, which included scores of 142 and 93 in the corresponding fixture against Somerset.

But the farthest Lyth ever got was a handful of games for England Lions.

Irrepressible one minute, inconsistent the next, he struggled to replicate the same stellar form.

There were signs, however, in the second half of last season, that Lyth was getting back to his best.

A career-best 248 not out against Leicestershire was the trigger, an innings followed by five half-centuries in the last five games.

Lyth had managed only one half-century in seven Championship innings this year, mirroring the struggles of the top-four in general, but this time he built on a promising platform.

His 105, made from 158 balls with 15 fours, was his seventh first-class hundred and teeming with those sweet cover drives that are very much a trademark.

Lyth being Lyth, the innings nevertheless ended with something of a whimper.

When pace bowler Gemaal Hussain sent down a short ball from the Old Pavilion End, Lyth could have pretty much leathered it where he liked.

Maddeningly for him, he slapped it hard and fast in the direction of mid-on, where Peter Trego was on hand to judge a good, low catch.

But none of that detracted from what went before, for Lyth was in sumptuous touch for the majority of his stay.

If Lyth laid the foundation with the day’s finest innings, it was one solidly built on by captain Andrew Gale.

Having struggled himself this summer (Gale went into the match with 131 runs in seven Championship innings at 18.71), the left-hander struck a splendid 75, his highest Championship score since he made 80 against Leicestershire at Scarborough in May last year.

Gale looked all set for his first Championship hundred since June 2011 when he dragged-on to Trego in the third over with the second new ball.

Understandably frustrated, he almost had to drag himself off the field following a 188-ball innings that included eight fours.

Although Yorkshire played well on a good batting pitch, albeit one not completely unhelpful to bowlers, there was disappointment for them in that only Lyth progressed to a three-figure score.

The rest came and went – and that despite only one, Joe Sayers, not getting a start.

After no play had been possible on day one due to rain, yesterday’s action began amid watery sunshine.

As expected, Yorkshire omitted Ben Coad, the 19-year-old Academy pace bowler, from their 12-man squad and handed a first Championship appearance of the season to Moin Ashraf.

Somerset, missing the injured Alfonso Thomas and the twin brothers Craig and Jamie Overton, are down to the bare bones bowling-wise – and it showed.

Although they often made the batsmen work hard in the morning, when there was a bit of assistance on offer in the pitch, no one offered Marcus Trescothick consistent control.

Sayers was the victim of a good one when he edged former Yorkshire pace bowler Steve Kirby to Trescothick at second slip from the day’s eighth ball.

Lyth edged Kirby just in front of Trescothick soon after before finding his feet with an exquisite cover-driven boundary off the same bowler.

Lyth’s progress was serene but he did enjoy one life when Dean Elgar, the South African batsman making his debut, put him down at third slip off the hard-working Kirby. It was a difficult chance, diving to his left, and one that Somerset lived to regret.

Lyth went to his half-century from 65 balls with eight fours but lost his second-wicket partner, Phil Jaques, after the pair added 80 in 19 overs.

Jaques got a jaffa from Hussain, who had him brilliantly held by wicketkeeper Alex Barrow, diving to his left.

Lyth and Gale added 103 in 32 overs and Gale and Gary Ballance 80 in 28.

Ballance looked comfortable before being caught behind trying to cut the left-arm spin of George Dockrell when two runs shy of reaching his half-century.

Adil Rashid, who can seemingly do no wrong at present, finished unbeaten on 47 in the company of Andy Hodd, undefeated on 24.

With 448 runs in six Championship innings this season including four not outs, Rashid’s average currently stands at 224.00.