Yorkshire v Worcestershire: Brilliant Gale helps Yorkshire take the initiative

Worcestershire won by five wickets in August 2003 despite being bowled out for 91 in their first innings.

Another two-day finish is not entirely out of the question after 15 wickets fell on an intriguing first day.

After Worcestershire were dismissed for 168, Yorkshire closed on 135-5 to leave the game engrossingly poised.

The loss of 15 wickets on the opening day of a Championship match is usually enough to alert the pitch inspectors, but there is no need for them to rush to the East coast.

Most of the wickets fell to decent bowling and good old-fashioned swing and seam movement.

It looked a simple case of two struggling sides who have laboured with the bat all summer labouring with the bat.

The surface is greener than one might expect for this time of year, but it is hardly a minefield.

Two run-outs in the Yorkshire innings exaggerated the difficulties encountered by batsmen.

Rich Pyrah perished following a mix-up with Andrew Gale, who turned a ball from off-spinner Saeed Ajmal into the leg-side and called for a quick single.

And Joe Root was run-out from the third ball of the innings without facing when Alan Richardson diverted a straight drive from Adam Lyth onto the stumps at the bowler’s end.

But perhaps the biggest advert for the quality of the surface came from the broad bat of Gale.

The Yorkshire captain was in terrific touch on his way to an unbeaten 68 from 82 balls with 12 fours, an innings that raised his side’s hopes of a useful first innings lead.

Five of those fours came from the opening five balls of an over bowled by Saeed from the Trafalgar Square end as Gale danced down the track to loft the Pakistani over long-on, flashed a fizzing cover drive to the foot of the popular bank, rocked on to his heels to cut to the point boundary, essayed a deft flick to the fine-leg fence and then crashed another coruscating cover-drive.

Gale did not quite time an attempted off-drive from the final delivery as the ball trickled apologetically back to the bowler.

There were incongruous bursts of scoring throughout a day that was mostly attritional in character.

Nineteen runs came off an over from Worcestershire pace bowler Gareth Andrew, while Yorkshire’s Tim Bresnan conceded 18 runs and 16 runs from successive overs after lunch.

With Ryan Sidebottom bowling an over in between that cost nine runs, it meant Worcestershire scored 43 runs in three overs shortly after the break after they had been reduced to 59-6 during the first session.

A seventh-wicket stand of 55 in 11 overs between Andrew and Ben Scott was responsible for a mini-revival that all-but doubled the total, and Worcestershire perhaps scored a few more than they should have done.

Bresnan (four wickets) and Sidebottom (three) were statistically the most successful bowlers but Ajmal Shahzad and Pyrah looked the most threatening, Shahzad rediscovering his mojo during an outstanding opening burst from the Trafalgar Square end.

Arguably as important as his impressive innings was that Gale won the toss, which gave Yorkshire the best of conditions.

His bowlers did not waste the advantage as Worcestershire quickly found themselves in trouble.

Sidebottom landed the first blow in the fifth over when he had Matt Pardoe lbw pushing forward.

Bresnan struck in the next over when Worcestershire captain Daryl Mitchell was caught high at first slip by Adam Lyth.

Vikram Solanki was dropped on 18 by Gary Ballance at second slip off Pyrah’s second ball from the Peasholm Park end, but the miss was not costly as Pyrah had Solanki caught behind three balls later.

Worcestershire fell to 33-4 in the next over when Shahzad got one to shape away from Moeen Ali, who gave Lyth another slip catch.

Alex Kervezee perished with the total on 41 when he missed a straight one from Pyrah and was lbw, while Andrew should have fallen for eight when Ballance dropped another catch at second slip off Pyrah.

Ballance finally got one to stick when Sidebottom found James Cameron’s outside edge in the penultimate over before lunch.

Andrew was reprieved again on 39 when Adil Rashid dropped him at third slip off Shahzad, but Andrew had added only one more run when he was caught low at mid-off by Anthony McGrath off Sidebottom.

Scott steered to third slip before Bresnan rounded off the innings by having Jack Shantry caught in the cordon and Richardson caught behind.

After Root’s unfortunate run-out and Lyth’s edge behind, Gale and McGrath added 92 in 20 overs before McGrath went lbw.

Jonny Bairstow – capped before the start of play – fell lbw to Saeed, but Gale and Ballance survived to fight another day.