Nottinghamshire must be sick of the sight of Andrew Gale and Jack Leaning, the pair of batsmen who combined for a Yorkshire record fourth-wicket stand of 251 against their county at Headingley.
The pair resume on Wednesday, having comfortably surpassed the 210 shared by Ted Lester and Willie Watson in 1952, their chanceless hundreds following previous successes against the east Midlands team.
Gale’s liking for Nottinghamshire is nothing new: this was his fourth championship hundred against them, more than 1,000 runs in all, and his career average off their bowling stands at 55.73. Leaning, the latest young talent to emerge from a seemingly limitless production line, has fewer memories but one significantly good one: his maiden first-class hundred came in the reverse fixture at Trent Bridge in April.
Coming together with Yorkshire mired at 51 for three in the 21st over, they took stock initially before capitalising on the Leeds pitch’s tendency to lose its spite under the sun. It was certainly a different story in the initial stages of the innings.
“I seem to play better when the chips are down, pride myself on contributing to the team when they need me and that partnership puts us in command,” acknowledged Gale. “As for Jack, he is going from strength to strength. For a young kid of 21 years old, he is so calm and in control of his game. He looks the all-round package now and who knows where he could go? They threw everything at him, they have Stuart Broad and Ben Hilfenhaus, two international bowlers trying to bounce him out, and he didn’t look in any trouble at all.”
In his solitary pre-Ashes championship appearance, Broad proved a real handful with the new ball. His third delivery from the Kirkstall Lane end pinned his current England team-mate Adam Lyth leg before, while some old-school fast-bowling kidology contributed to the somersaulting of Alex Lees’ middle-stump the other side of lunch: the switch to around the wicket and the elaborate placing of the deep square-leg hinted at the bumper, the fatal full-length ball followed.
Gary Ballance’s fallow spell since a pair of 50s against West Indies in Grenada is now 177 in a dozen innings across all formats after he was snared in the leg-slip trap set off Hilfenhaus.
Although the pitch has become more subdued than it was on the first day when, after being inserted, their batting was lacerated, Nottinghamshire will do well to avert defeat from this position. The England one-day hero Jonny Bairstow will get the opportunity to contribute to a burgeoning first-innings lead on day three when he replaces Andrew Hodd in the home lineup. It already stands at 78.
To make matters worse, Nottinghamshire’s captain, James Taylor, is facing two level one conduct charges for his reaction to being given out caught behind on the first morning. With each offence carrying a three-point penalty, one further transgression in the next two years would result in an automatic suspension.
The Australian Twenty20 captain, Aaron Finch – overlooked by Yorkshire for this match – was sent for a second scan on the rib injury he incurred batting for the second team on Monday after the first one suggested a bruised lung but proved inconclusive.
