Mickey Edwards reflected a frustrated Yorkshire dressing room when he admitted of their first day bowling performance: “I felt we missed a bit of a trick.”
Yorkshire invited Glamorgan to bat first under overcast skies and on a green-tinged pitch, bowling them out for 245 after tea, of which Edwards claimed three wickets.
The Welshmen were 1-2 this morning and later 174-7, but they gave themselves something to bowl at courtesy of Marnus Labuschagne’s 65, 49 for Sam Northeast and an unbeaten 35 for tail-ender Timm van der Gugten.
Unfortunately, Glamorgan then had significant success with the ball, leaving Yorkshire under pressure at 62-5 in reply. Michael Neser claimed three wickets, including Edwards as one of two nightwatchmen to fall. Matthew Fisher was the other.
“We probably didn’t put enough balls in the right area. They showed us this afternoon the way to do it,” said the Anglo-Australian fast bowler.
“It was definitely not through a lack of trying from us, but that’s just cricket. You have days like that sometimes.
“We’ll come back in the second innings with a couple of learnings from them.
“There was just so much in the wicket. If we put more balls in the right area and took our chances – Marnus obviously had a couple of lives – it felt like we could have had them out a lot cheaper. Maybe for 150.”
Ben Coad claimed the two early wickets, including his 200th Championship scalp. But he left the field five balls into his 10th over – after lunch – clutching his right groin. Edwards is hopeful of some positive news ahead.
“You feel pretty comfortable when Coady’s got the ball in his hands,” he said. “It was a shame for him to go down, but I don’t think it’s going to be too long for him and we’ll look forward to having him back.
“He’s done a small groin. I think it was more precautionary him not bowling for the rest of the day. Hopefully we see him in the next couple of days. I think it’s quite minor.”
Edwards’ haul was matched by George Hill, who had Labuschagne caught behind.
“George is a very handy cricketer,” he said. “It’s not often you can get someone who can do everything – field in the slips, bowl nice out-swingers and bat really well. To have someone like that is a huge asset for the team, and he bowled beautifully.”
Jonny Bairstow claimed three catches behind the stumps.
“Jonny’s always full of beans, and today was extra special,” said the New South Welshman.
“It’s been a long time coming for him, and it was great to see him come back and do what he loves. He took a couple of nice catches, especially that one down leg off Hilly. He’s moving pretty well the old boy!”
And on the loss of the late wickets and the position of the game, Edwards added: “It’s disappointing.
“Two of those wickets were nightwatchmen, and it’s a difficult challenge for us down the order facing the new ball and a guy like Michael Neser, who is a world-class bowler.
“By the sounds of it, the boys were saying the wicket had flattened out a little bit and we shouldn’t be five down. But we know Headingley can be a good place to bat in the latter days. Hopefully that’s the case.
“It’s hard to say who’s ahead right now because two of those wickets are nightwatchmen and we are only chasing 245. I’d say it’s pretty well in the balance and we haven’t played anywhere near our best cricket yet.
“I don’t think there’s two better batters to have in this situation in the world (than Bairstow and David Malan). They’d be the ones I’d pick.
“We have complete faith in them. Then we have a lot of quality batters after them, so we’re pretty confident.”
