Scorecard
By Graham Hardcastle
Andrew Hodd’s determined half-century followed by an all-round contribution from Jack Brooks helped Yorkshire turn day one of their Specsavers County Championship match against Nottinghamshire at Emerald Headingley on its head.
Former Sussex wicketkeeper Hodd reached 50 off 102 balls shortly before tea and finished with 62 from 116 as the hosts hit back from 93-5 to post 256, of which Brooks contributed 30 not out.
The new ball seamer then struck three times as Notts slipped to 39-4 in reply, closing on 53-4 from 19 overs.
Adam Lyth also contributed 45 as the White Rose claimed two batting points.
Day 1 highlights
Glorious sunshine maybe, but conditions were still useful for bowling, as the early success for Notts suggested.
Visiting new ball pair Jake Ball and Luke Fletcher shared the first three wickets, the latter finishing as the pick of the bowlers with 4-47.
Ball had Alex Lees caught at third slip and Gary Ballance cutting to point for a nine ball duck. Both will look back on their dismissals with regret.
Sandwiched in between, Fletcher had Che Pujara lbw for two as the score fell 37-3 after 13 overs following an uncontested toss.
Lyth pulled Luke Wood’s left-arm seamers for six into the West Stand in his eye-catching knock, while Harry Brook encouraged with 22.
Unfortunately, both fell shortly before lunch – Lyth lbw to Gurney and Brook yorked by Wood, with the hosts now five down and seven short of three figures.
The recovery was led by Hodd, who was helped along by sixth-wicket partner Jack Leaning and later Josh Shaw for the eighth.
Brooks and Ben Coad also added 44 for the tenth wicket.
Hodd and Leaning (12) shared 44 either side of lunch before Hodd and tail-ender Shaw (17) added 36.
Leaning and Shaw were two of three afternoon wickets to fall as Yorkshire advanced from 107-5 at lunch to 198-8 at tea.
Leaning was enticed into edging Fletcher to second slip early in the afternoon before Tim Bresnan was trapped lbw by the same bowler.
Gurney then had Shaw caught behind as the score fell to 191-8 after 61 overs.
By that time, Hodd had posted Yorkshire’s first half-century of a summer delayed by seven successive abandonments due to rain or a wet outfield – there were no issues whatsoever on day one.
Hodd secured a batting point with the first ball of the evening when he pulled Gurney for four before being bowled by the same man shortly afterwards.
That left the score at 212-9.
That was not the end of the fun for the Yorkshire members, with last-wicket pair Brooks and Coad (18) securing a second point.
Brooks even hit Samit Patel’s left-arm spin for six over long-off, landing just short of the building site at the old Football Stand end of the ground.
Fletcher ended the innings when Coad miscued to short cover, leaving Notts with a short but tricky session of batting before close.
That thought was only strengthened when Brooks forced Steven Mullaney to chop on two balls into their innings for a duck. He had Chris Nash caught behind off the glove in his next.
Coad then trapped Jake Libby lbw, leaving the score at 6-3, before Brooks later trapped Patel lbw, leaving the score at 39-4. Ross Taylor closed on 34 not out.