Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. James Wharton takes a remarkable diving catch to help Jack White dismiss Sussex opener Tom Haines this morning.
James Wharton took one of the all-time great outfield catches during Yorkshire’s dominant opening day of the Rothesay County Championship fixture against Sussex at Scarborough.
Stand-in captain Dom Bess elected to bowl first on a green-tinged North Marine Road surface before Wharton helped Jack White make the initial breakthrough en-route to Sussex being limited to 210-9 from 96 overs.
Sussex opener Tom Haines tried to whip a ball over mid-wicket into the Popular Bank Stand, only to sky a top-edge. Wharton, fielding at a shortish mid-wicket, hared after the ball towards deep square-leg and dived full length, holding onto the ball mid-air and then celebrating with understandable vigour.
If there’s a better catch taken in this summer’s Championship, it will be a major surprise.
The competition’s social media account even described it as “possibly the greatest catch in history”.
At the time, Sussex were 19-1 in the ninth over and soon after slipped to 26-2. New-ball seamer White took them both. Yorkshire had their tails up. They rammed home their advantage, too,
Sussex’s other opener, the Australian left-hander Daniel Hughes, was the second wicket to fall when bowled by a beauty from White which angled in from around the wicket, straightened and hit the top of off-stump.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Jack White celebrates removing Danial Ibrahim as one of his three wickets.
James Coles, with 47, and Tom Alsop then steadied the ship before the former fell caught behind against George Hill on the verge of lunch – 92-3.
And, from there, Yorkshire took a vice like grip on things.
White continued to thrive and finished the day with figures of 3-21 from 17 overs.
He had Danial Ibrahim caught at first slip pushing forwards just after lunch. And when visiting captain John Simpson feathered behind a drive at Matt Milnes, Sussex were 113-5 in the 44th over.
While Yorkshire didn’t run through Sussex, they took wickets regularly enough to keep themselves ahead.
The wicket of Simpson – Sussex’s leading Championship run-scorer this season – was an important one.
So too was that of Tom Alsop, the left-handed number three who scored a pair of half-centuries here last year when Yorkshire won a Division Two promotion battle in late August.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Matt Milnes is playing his first Championship match in just short of a year-and-a-half.
On this occasion, Alsop made it to 40 when he was bowled through the gate by an in-ducker from Matthew Revis, leaving the score at 129-6 in the 53rd.
Yorkshire came into this match having made four changes from the team which drew with league leaders Surrey here last week. One of those was Jonny Bairstow missing out due to paternity leave. As aforementioned, Bess is leading the side.
Seam-bowling all-rounder Milnes is playing his first Championship match since early 2024 following injury, while Imam-Ul-Haq, Harry Duke and Hill have all come into the side.
Alongside Bairstow, out are Ben Coad, Will Luxton and Jordan Thompson.
Sussex reached tea at 149-6 from 64 overs, with all-rounder Fynn Hudson-Prentice unbeaten on 23. They scored only 57 runs in the afternoon.
Then, wickets came in a hurry.
Yorkshire claimed three of them in eight balls as the score fell to 150-9 in the 67th over.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Will Sutherland, congratulated by wicketkeeper Harry Duke, struck twice in an over after tea.
Two went to the seam of Australian all-rounder Will Sutherland in the same over.
Sutherland is playing the last match of his mid-season overseas spell with the county and has made a big impression on the Yorkshire players and coaches.
He certainly made a big impression on Sussex’s lower order, gaining success courtesy of two slip catches from Hill at first slip and Adam Lyth at second.
The first, going to Hill’s right, saw Hudson-Prentice depart for 23. The second, much more regulation, removed Jack Carson later in the 66yh over.
In the next, a smart Fin Bean catch – going low to his left at third slip – helped Hill see off Henry Crocombe.
Unfortunately, Yorkshire were then unable to wrap up the innings as Sussex’s 10th-wicket pair Danny Lamb and Gurinder Sandhu shared an unbroken 60 through to close.
Both men pulled sixes against seam. All-rounder Lamb finished 40 not out and Australian seamer Sandhu 24. But Yorkshire maintained the advantage.
