Jordan Thompson says Yorkshire are delighted with their day two bowling performance as they put the squeeze on Gloucestershire.
This day was all one way traffic, far from it in fact. Up until tea-time at least, Gloucestershire had the better of it. They reduced Yorkshire from 348-3 overnight to 456 all out and reached 97-2 at tea and 128-2 shortly afterwards.
But they ended it in serious trouble at 168-7, still a long way short of the 307 they need to avoid having to follow-on.
“It’s a compliment to the boys that they were 140-3 and we’ve walked off with them 160-7,” said the all-rounder, who hit 44 with the bat and contributed an excellent 2-22 from 15 overs.
“We’re really happy.
“Absolutely, that’s the best we’ve bowled this season. We just kept coming.
“They were probably thinking, ‘That’s one good spell gone’. But we just kept coming.
“I think Conor (McKerr) bowled really well without reward today, and Bessy also bowled incredibly well, taking it on from the white ball stuff.”
Thompson and fellow all-rounder Matthew Revis were Yorkshire’s standout performers today, the latter finishing with 3-26 from nine overs, including two wickets in two balls as the hosts claimed five wickets in the evening session.
It wasn’t always going Yorkshire’s way with the ball, but they stuck to their task and are now bang on course for a first win of the four-day season at the eighth attempt.
“That’s what we were very happy with,” said Thompson. “We looked up and they were 130 or 140-3, but there was no panic. We were very calm and got our rewards later on. In times past, we’ve probably gone searching and fallen foul of it.
“Hopefully we can get those wickets pretty quickly and look at maybe having a go again. They’re still a long way behind, and if we bowl again and have to chase a little bit, I’m happy to do that.
“It’s something we haven’t really done in the past (enforce the follow-on). But if you get chance to do it, then I think, ‘Take it’.”
On Yorkshire’s morning batting, Thompson said: “They bowled a lot better this morning than they did yesterday.
“We know coming to Scarborough and playing against teams who haven’t played here much, the lines and lengths are massively important. They got it wrong in the first session yesterday but gradually got better.
“They came back this morning with improved skills.
“We probably wanted a bit more, but they’re 160-7 and we come off pretty happy with ourselves.”
And on his own performance with bat and ball, he added: “You know what I’m like. I enjoy playing at Scarborough, and it would have been my third fifty in a row here if I hadn’t slapped it to long-on. But it was nice to get us to a decent total.
“I felt like that’s the best I’ve bowled in maybe a couple of years in red ball cricket. You look up and think, ‘I’ve only got two wickets, maybe it could have been three, four or five’. But that’s what happens. You can bowl average and take five and really well and take two.”
