George Hill and Dom Bess batted nicely for consolatory scores of 52 and 49 but were unable to prevent Yorkshire from slipping to a fourth-afternoon defeat against Hampshire in the Rothesay County Championship at Headingley.
The White Rose county, set 426 to win just after tea on day three, started today on 65-5 and with a mountain to climb to escape to safety.
It proved a task too tall as they were bowled out for 211 by the impressive Hampshire pace attack led by ex-South Africa international Kyle Abbott, who finished with outstanding match figures of 10-70 from 37 overs.
Hill and captain Bess resisted courtesy of an eighth-wicket partnership of 78 either side of lunch from 97-7, but their task was too tall and the hosts lost by 214 runs.
Abbott supplemented his four first-innings wickets with 6-21 from 17 overs in the second, including the morning breakthrough today with his sixth ball.
This second-round fixture yielded three points and followed last week’s draw against Glamorgan at Cardiff.
Abbott broke through with the day’s 12th ball when Fin Bean was trapped lbw pushing forwards for 33, leaving Yorkshire at 71-6.
Harry Duke then pulled a well-directed Sonny Baker short ball to long-leg – 97-7 – just before midday.
From then on through to early afternoon, Hill and Bess fought hard against some short-pitched bowling from Baker and Eddie Jack.
Bess was actually struck on the body four times in all. Two were glancing blows, two looked distinctly unpleasant.
Baker struck Bess twice in the same over shortly after the Duke wicket – once flush on the side of the head and the other a touch lower!
The latter certainly caused the Yorkshire captain more concern.
Hill reached his fifty, off 86 balls, in the second over of the afternoon by hoisting two sixes over long-on against Liam Dawson’s left-arm spin.
He was trapped lbw not long afterwards as a 78-run partnership ended and left the score at 175-8.
Bess then miscued Liam Dawson’s left-arm spin to mid-off one short of his fifty before the same bowler bowled Ben Coad to finish things off.
Hampshire bounced back from a home defeat against Essex last week.
Yorkshire now have a bye round before welcoming Sussex to Headingley, starting a week on Friday. Joe Root will play in that fixture, his first of three for the White Rose prior to the start of the international summer in early June.
