Tea time at Headingley with Hampshire 42 for two after 19 overs and trailing by 551 runs. Ryan Sidebottom got the initial incision after Andrew Gale pulled the ripcord on his side’s first innings at 593 for nine, trapping Tom Alsop lbw for one in the third over. Liam Plunkett, who had replaced Jack Brooks at the Kirkstall Lane End, then teased an outside edge from Michael Carberry in the 14th, as a diving Alex Lees at first slip clung on to see the left-hander gone for 19. Spot of rain coming down in the interval. Couple of fitness updates from Hampshire, with Liam Dawson not bowling this morning due to a stomach complaint and seamer Chris Wood pulling up lame with a knee problem. Both will bat but from the point of view of the visitors, hopefully not this evening.
If you plastered your walls in pictures of cricketers, you better read this...
Over to the Yorkshire bowlers to see what they can do, after captain Andrew Gale decides 593 for nine is enough and calls his players in. Career-bests all-round with Jonny Bairstow making 246, Liam Plunkett 126, and Tom Alsop, the ninth Hampshire bowler used, two for 59 from eight overs – his removal of Bairstow, caught in the deep, was his maiden first-class wicket too. Bairstow and Plunkett put on 227 in 28.1 overs, with the total the highest by a Yorkshire side against Hampshire, passing the 585 for three they made in Portsmouth in 1920. Ryan Sidebottom and headband warrior Jack Brooks sharing the new ball here now.
A morning of utter chaos at Headingley. Liam Plunkett, take a bow. The number eight came in at 11.52am and at lunch sits a staggering 94 not out from 73 balls after a barbaric display of batting that has seen 15 fours and one six fly from his willow. At the other end, Jonny Bairstow has hardly been sedate, adding 102 runs to his own overnight tally to move to 209 not out, 10 runs short of his career best.
Yorkshire, with the scoreboard having spun like a fruit-machine, are now 506 for six.
So while I have been writing stories on Alastair Cook’s helmet and Mark Wood’s ankle – apologies for the lack of updates – the champions have been pummelling some wayward bowling from Hampshire, piling on 236 runs in the session for the loss of just one wicket, Adil Rashid strangled down leg by James Tomlinson for 34.
He and Bairstow had added 99 for the sixth wicket, with Plunkett – England’s No11 at one stage during the recent World Twenty20 – coming out and batting like a man possessed. The current partnership sits at 158 runs from 18.2 overs.
For Hampshire supporters, the bad news get worse that Fidel Edwards’ figures of 23 overs, nought for 145, with Chris Wood pulling up lame in his 19th over and trudged off the field. That’s his match over, you’d fancy, with the problem looking like a right thigh strain from up here in the press box. Awaiting official confirmation, however.
Look who’s back...
When it comes to decisions on whether or not to field first, it pays never to jump to quick conclusions. So the successful first day enjoyed by Middlesex at Lord’s does not mean that Ian Bell was wrong to insist on letting Middlesex bat first. We shall know rather more once Warwickshire have had a chance to bat on the pitch, although even then, the overhead conditions, on which you can take pot luck, are likely to play more of a part. The incredibly efficient drainage at Lord’s means that even in April, Mick Hunt’s watering of his pitches needs to be very finely balanced. But the foot marks left by the bowlers on the first day, and the dark scars on the pitch (albeit caused in part by moisture carried in on boots) showed that there is still considerable underlying damp. It is a characteristic of Lord’s pitches these days that they tend to offer most help at the start of matches and then gradually iron out into batting paradises. As well as Sam Robson batted, and whatever happens against the Middlesex pace attack – four seamers for them – Bell’s decision was a perfectly logical and sound one.
There won’t be any more contributions on here today from me. My long time friend and colleague Alan Lee, former cricket correspondent of the Times and latterly its racing correspondent – someone we are all happy to acknowledge as the journalists’ journalist- died a couple of months ago and today there is a memorial for him in his home town of Cheltenham. So I shall be back at Lord’s on Tuesday. In the meantime, please carry on talking with Ali and amongst yourselves.
Gloomy at Headingley this morning, with a heavy covering of cloud that looks relatively unthreatening rain-wise but is going to be an issue with the light one would wager. The white rose floodlights are fired up and play looks set to start though – they went off last night with them on so watch this space – with Yorkshire appear to resume on 270 for five from 75 overs, Jonny Bairstow is 107 not out and Adil Rashid on seven. New ball in five overs a boost for Hampshire but if this cloud cover stays, then Ryan Sidebottom et al won’t be complaining later in the day.
