The opening day between county cricket’s two most recent champions ended much as it started, with Yorkshire’s Andrew Hodd facing Durham’s Chris Rushworth. It was the 20 wickets that fell in between that made it extraordinary.
On a pitch offering encouragement to the pace bowlers throughout, but not one that overly concerned the umpires Jeremy Lloyd and Nick Cook, both sides forfeited their chance to register batting points. Seven Yorkshire batsmen were caught either by the wicketkeeper or in the cordon to emphasise the carry in the surface.
Both attacks were rewarded for hunting mistakes during this epidemic of white-ball fever: bodies and minds are fatigued due to the hectic travel caused by the block of Royal London Cup. There were certainly some tired shots on display and the desire by players to feel bat on ball proved costly.
“There is a little bit of lateral movement which, coupled with the steep bounce, made it particularly difficult. The sideways movement on its own wouldn’t have caused 20 wickets,” said the Durham coach, Jon Lewis, after the officials confirmed they would be taking no action.
Having won the toss, Yorkshire were seven down at lunch and nine down soon after. They were indebted to a last-wicket alliance between their new-ball bowlers, Tim Bresnan and Ryan Sidebottom, for getting them beyond 96, which would have been the lowest championship score of Jason Gillespie’s tenure. They did so and then some with the highest stand of the innings.
“It was really bizarre. We were pretty poor with our shot selection this morning and panicked a little bit but what a fightback. The momentum is now with us,” said Sidebottom, the veteran left-armer, after claiming four for 44 to help seal a narrow first-innings lead against the odds.
A positive result in the corresponding fixture two years ago was generally acknowledged as the one that took Durham to the County Championship title. The events so far mean another positive result in what is the 129th Scarborough Festival is now all-but guaranteed.
If it goes in favour of the hosts they will almost be home and hosed. Yorkshire began this round of matches with a 34-point advantage and a game in hand over the next in the top flight.
However, another Durham victory would open up opportunities for others, with Lewis confessing: “If second is as good as we can do because Yorkshire finish the season strongly, then that is what we will go for but, if they slip up, two or three times then we have to make sure we are pushing.”
They have to do so here without their captain, Paul Collingwood, who is missing his first championship match since July 2013 after inducing a back spasm brushing his teeth. How they missed his stomach for the fight against an attack that still boasted four internationals despite not featuring Jack Brooks, whose own back problem halted a sequence of 34 consecutive Division One appearances stretching back even further.
Yet it was the less decorated seamers on each side that sent the innings into early decline: Rushworth, who took his overall tally of victims to 68, claimed two of the first three Yorkshire wickets to fall and later had the chance to follow his hat-trick against Hampshire last time out with another while Steven Patterson bagged three of Durham’s first four to finish with figures of 11-5-16-3.
Their efforts and those of their fellow bowlers have effectively turned this into a one-innings shootout. The outcome of it will have a big say in the destiny of the 2015 championship pennant.
