Yorkshire turn up the pressure on title challengers Somerset
YOU would need a heart of stone not to want Somerset to win the County Championship at least once in their long and luckless history.
A year in which Yorkshire are out of the running would seem as good as any from a parochial standpoint, although supporters of Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire, Somerset’s closest rivals, would doubtless offer a different view.
Yorkshire, for their part, clearly want to finish on a high and for any Somerset fairytale to materialise by means other than at their expense.
The last two rounds will be full of twists. Just five points separated the three title rivals at the start of play, with Somerset holding a narrow advantage.
So, will the perennial bridesmaids finally reach the altar, or will they again be denied their big day?
That - as Warwickshire’s most famous son might have put it - is the question.
On the opening day of this game at Headingley, one largely blessed with sunny conditions, a fascinating contest began to take shape.
Yorkshire were bowled out for 212 in 65.4 overs, captain Jonny Bairstow leading the way with a fine 79, a total put into perspective when Somerset reached 68-5 in response, the game in Yorkshire’s favour at this stage.
The floodlights were on when the game got going - promptly at 10.30am, despite a reasonable amount of rain in the hours beforehand, and there was a muggy feel to the overcast morning.
The pitch was over towards the East Stand and revealed itself to be true and competitive. The inclusion of quality spinners on both sides suggested it might turn later in the piece.
Yorkshire won the toss and chose to bat. There were some good shots but also four wickets in a morning session in which 77 runs were scored, the session cut short by 20 minutes due to a passing shower that drifted over the ground like an afterthought.
Adam Lyth and Will Luxton both played some handsome drives in the early stages, but both were back in the pavilion before the end of the ninth over.
Lyth edged Lewis Gregory to Henry Nicholls at first slip, then Luxton - already reprieved once at second slip when Tom Abell spilled a chance high above his head off Gregory - was not given a second life when the pair combined again.
Gregory was magnificent from the Kirkstall Lane end, even on a surface that justified Bairstow’s decision to take first use of it, and the hosts fell to 58-3 when Sam Whiteman chopped on to a back-of-a-length delivery outside the off stump from Jake Ball.
Yorkshire’s fourth wicket was unfortunate. Replays suggested that Matty Revis made his ground when James Wharton clipped Gregory to mid-wicket and set off for a run, but umpire Richard Kettleborough ruled that Josh Thomas’s smart pick up and throw beat his lunge for home at the striker’s end.
After lunch, Wharton was yorked by a fine inswinger from Gregory to end almost 90 minutes of resistance from the Yorkshire No 4. It was then over to Bairstow and George Hill for the stand of the day - 83 runs in 23 overs.
Both drove very well at times and battled with the grit that the situation demanded. Bairstow was dropped on 44 at slip by Craig Overton off Jack Leach, a sharp chance, while there were suspicions that he was also spilled on 27 by wicketkeeper James Rew off Ball, although only the participants could say for certain.
Hill played well for 45 in 90 minutes before Rew took a good catch, flying to his right, off Migael Pretorius, a dismissal that tilted the balance again. It was two in two for seamer Pretorius, who had Dom Bess edging a drive behind against his former club.
Yorkshire slipped to 189-8 in the third over after tea, Kuldeep Yadav edging behind off Overton.
With wickets running out, Bairstow carried the fight, finding the boundary with short-arm jabs and improvised shots. Finally, he got under one from Pretorius and holed out to mid-off, his body language betraying that he was a goner as soon as bat made contact with ball.
Bairstow faced 113 deliveries and hit 13 fours in his second-highest Championship score of the season. The innings ended when Ben Cliff clipped Ball to mid-wicket.
Somerset were soon in distress. Tom Lammonby edged Ben Coad to Hill at first slip, then Josh Thomas was lbw trying to pull Cliff.
Run-scoring looked tough against some fine bowling from Coad and Cliff, with Archie Vaughan taking 18 balls to get off the mark.
Somewhat incongruously, he did so with a sweetly-pulled six off Cliff towards the short East Stand boundary, but the bowler soon had his revenge when Vaughan dragged on an attempted cover drive. Next ball, Cliff struck again, Abell caught behind to leave Somerset 24-4.
When Hill plucked out a one-handed catch at first slip to dismiss Nicholls off Revis, the pressure on the title challengers increased.