Dom Bess says Yorkshire weren’t at their best on day one against Kent at Headingley, though he admits they were boosted significantly by two late strikes.
Kent recovered from 20-3 to close on 270-6, though they were 227-4 with a significant advantage having been invited to bowl under an overcast sky.
Daniel Bell-Drummond led their revival with 109, but he fell to Matthew Revis in the evening before Steve Patterson removed Ollie Robinson seven balls before close.
Off-spinner Bess also struck in a day which started with three early ones for Pakistan overseas quick Haris Rauf, the pick of the home attack.
Bad light halted play twice after tea, cutting 15 overs from the day’s allocation, and Bess said: “Going back out there and taking two wickets puts it back in the balance.
“If they were 250-4, you would say they’ve had a really good day considering the weather.
“But we could go bang, bang in the morning and get them all out for 300 with the new ball.
“Day two is usually the best day to bat, and we’ll hopefully set a big score.”
He continued: “Three wickets in half an hour, you’re probably being quite greedy and looking at batting by tea-time. But it showed that it’s a really good wicket.
“It’s also quite quick-scoring here. If you’re not on with the ball, you can leak and be quite expensive at times.
“Haris bowled really well to start with, but our standards weren’t as good. It was one of those days.
“But, 270-6, you can look at it and say it’s quite even.
“If we can get them for under 300, it’s a good pitch and with our batting line-up, we should be going on past that. But let’s get to that tomorrow.
“Bell-Drummond batted well, and he put the bad ball away.
“I personally think there were a couple of close ones, and we dropped him on 50. You can’t do that with that sort of player.”
Yorkshire did not get the assistance they would have expected when Patterson won the toss this morning, with the floodlights in operation all day and it looking like a perfect day for bowling.
But Bess added: “My honest view is that these ball are getting a lot softer without saliva.
“You can shine it with sweat, but when the ball gets to 40 overs it turns into a football. We changed it today 20 overs in because it was so soft.
“I think that played quite a big part.”
