Yorkshire and Gloucestershire both enjoyed success with the ball during a topsy-turvy second day at Scarborough – one which ended, thankfully, with the hosts on top.
Yorkshire no doubt have the advantage at the halfway stage of this Vitality County Championship fixture, their eighth of the season. Gloucestershire, replying to a first-innings 456, closed on 168-7 from 71 overs and need to reach 307 to avoid the follow-on.
But, is Yorkshire’s advantage as clear-cut as it could have been? Maybe not.
That is because they started the day on 348-3 in their first innings and went on to lose their last seven wickets for 87 runs.
A frustration, yes, that they didn’t get closer to 550. But it may not be costly. The signs are certainly looking good.
Gloucestershire started their response immediately after lunch in determined manner. They reached 128-2 in the 52nd over, including wickets for Jordan Thompson and Matthew Revis, two men who stood out today.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Matthew Revis takes congratulations from his team-mates after removing Ben Charlesworth.
Thompson hit a buccaneering 44 with the bat and returned 2-22 from 15 accurate overs. Revis (3-26 from nine) later struck three times in all, including twice in as many balls, as the visitors slumped to 158-6. With another wicket falling late in the day to Thompson, Yorkshire had struck five times in all in the closing stages.
For Glos, new ball seamer Ajeet Singh Dale claimed two of the seven morning wickets, finishing with 3-70 from 24 overs. Ollie Price, batting at three, top-scored for them with 47.
Yorkshire still have plenty of work to do given this pitch is not as pacy as ones we have seen here in years gone by. There is still plenty of bounce on offer, but that has come from a surface which looks more spongy than hard and pacy.
One thing that will give encouragement to the bowlers is the odd sign of uneven bounce.
A number of deliveries have gone through head high to the keeper, while the lbw which removed George Hill for 45 this morning – new ball seamer Don Goodman the wicket-taker – kept low.
That was one of seven Yorkshire wickets to fall for 87, from 369-3.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Miles Hammond is bowled by Yorkshire’s Dom Bess.
Thompson and Revis struck once apiece during an afternoon which saw Gloucestershire reach tea at 97-2 from 39 overs, including 45 from opener Ben Charlesworth.
Thompson had Cameron Bancroft caught at second slip for 29, leaving the score at 62-1, before Revis had Charlesworth caught behind with the final ball of the session.
Dom Bess then bowled Miles Hammond after tea, off an inside-edge as the left-hander advanced down the pitch looking to loft the off-spinner over the top.
And, in leaving the score at 128-3 in the 52nd over, it proved to be the first of four wickets to fall for 30 under a cloudy sky which, helpfully, had replaced blazing sunshine.
Bess had earlier been hit for two leg-side sixes by Price, a batter whose departure was key to Yorkshire’s excellent end to the day.
Revis had Price brilliantly caught behind down leg by Jonny Tattersall off a gloved pull at the end of the 61st over. And when he bowled Australian Beau Webster, via inside-edge, for a golden duck at the start of his next, Gloucestershire were 158-6 in the 63rd.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Jordan Thompson had a good day with bat and ball today.
In the day’s penultimate over, Thompson then had visiting captain Graeme van Buuren caught at first slip.
A score in the region of 550-600 was very realistic from where Yorkshire started the second day. But, credit to Gloucestershire, they were excellent with ball in hand before lunch.
They struck seven times in all to wrap up Yorkshire’s innings on the verge of lunch.
The hosts also narrowly missed out on a fourth batting bonus point along the way.
New ball seamers Singh Dale and Goodman struck twice apiece, while they secured a second bowling point thanks to Australian Beau Webster, who bowled Revis to leave the score 360-6 after 109.5 overs.
Hill and Thompson just missed out on fifties.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Conor McKerr bowled nicely for 0-28 from 16 overs on red ball debut for Yorkshire.
Thompson’s 28-ball innings included three fours and a quartet of sixes. The first of them – and the best of them – was smeared handsomely over cover off Webster’s seam.
In all, four batters fell today within one shot of recording a fifty. With 14 wickets falling, there was no doubt this was a bowler’s day.
