Ben Cliff and George Hill claimed three wickets apiece, added to two for new seam-bowling signing Jack White, as Yorkshire bowled arch-rivals Lancashire out for 153 midway through the opening afternoon at Headingley today.
The five seamers Jonny Bairstow employed all struck at least once, with Ben Coad and Jordan Thompson supplementing Cliff, Hill and White, before Lancashire continued to bat on for the rest of the day, as had been pre-arranged at the start of this behind-closed-doors two-day warm-up fixture.
Yorkshire will bat for the full day tomorrow as they prepare for Friday’s Rothesay County Championship opener against Hampshire at the Utilita Bowl.
Lancashire finished the day, a sunny but breezy one, on 288-14 from 87 overs.
Hill finished with 3-25 from 10 overs and Cliff 3-30 from 13. White returned 2-39 from 12 overs, Coad 2-35 from 11 and Thompson 2-52 from 14.
Left-arm spinner Dan Moriarty also impressed with 2-19 from nine overs. He was the pick of the three frontline spinners used. He claimed one of the first 10 Lancashire wickets to fall.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. George Hill, alongside Ben Cliff – our cover picture, impressed with three wickets against Lancashire today.
It was no surprise this morning that both sides named more than 11 players, with Lancashire bringing 13 across the Pennines and Yorkshire naming 17.
Yorkshire were led by new captain Jonny Bairstow, who kept for the first 50 overs of the day before making way for Harry Duke. Jonny Tattersall also kept after tea.
New Vitality Blast captain Dawid Malan is also involved, as he will be for five or six of the first seven Division One matches.
Division Two promotion-chasers Lancashire have left a host of their frontline players at home, including the likes of captain Keaton Jennings and England legend Jimmy Anderson. They only returned from a training camp in Spain on Friday.
Yorkshire were at it right from the off in front of new coach Anthony McGrath, whose first day coaching his home county in match action at Headingley was a bit of a ‘pinch me’ moment.
New ball pair White and Coad were on the money and tested Lancashire openers Kesh Fonseka and Harry Singh.
White made the initial breakthrough when trapped England Under 19s man Fonseka lbw on the back pad, leaving the score at 20-1 in the eighth over, before wickets fell regularly throughout the day.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Lancashire’s top order struggled against new ball seamer Jack White.
Singh played nicely for 36 and was the pick of the visiting batters, though he was trapped lbw by Hill (59-3 in the 18th over).
Sandwiched in between, Cliff had George Bell caught at third slip by Fin Bean, and Lancashire reached lunch at 102-3 after 30 overs.
Cliff has returned from a winter in Melbourne and has impressed the Yorkshire hierarchy. Captain Bairstow enthusiastically name-checked him in some media commitments earlier this week, while McGrath spoke highly of him this afternoon.
The 22-year-old is without doubt a strong contender for a berth against Hampshire, what would be only his third first-class appearance should it come to pass.
After lunch, Coad bowled Tom Aspinwall for 32 with a beauty of an in-ducker having previously set the batter up with two out-swingers. Aspinwall and Singh shared 59, with Lancashire now 118-4 in the 33rd over.
Coad, incidentally, was bowling from the Howard Stand End at this stage, something he has rarely done in recent years.
Jack Blatherwick chipped White to cover in the next over, falling for 25, before Lancashire lost five further wickets for 13 runs from 140-5 to 153 for 10.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Ben Coad started 2025 as he means to go on, claiming two wickets today.
Josh Boyden was bowled by Hill, who also had Ollie Sutton caught behind by Bairstow. Tom Bailey was trapped lbw by Cliff, who also got Academy batter George Harris caught behind by the skipper.
When Thompson trapped Charlie Barnard lbw, the Red Rose had been bowled out in 46.5 overs.
In that time, Yorkshire’s seamers got through the bulk of the work. Afterwards, either side of tea, the spinners were given their time to get into rhythm.
England Lions seamer Mitch Stanley hoisted a trio of straight sixes into the Howard Stand off Dom Bess, but he was bowled on the verge of tea by Moriarty’s spin.
Moriarty struck again after tea to trap opener Fonseka – we were now at the stage of batters getting a second bite of the cherry – lbw, leaving the score at 189-12 in the 61st over.
Bess returned figures of 0-33 from nine overs of off-spin, while leg-spinner Jafer Chohan bowled eight overs for 43.
Lancashire rallied late in the day as Singh and Bell shared 49 for the 13th wicket before the latter played on to Thompson for 25. Singh was then caught behind off Coad for 30 as the visitors lost their 14th wicket on 242. Blatherwick hit two straight sixes in an aggressive late 31 not out, both coming off Chohan.
Picture by Simon Wilkinson/SWpix.com. New head coach Anthony McGrath will have some tough selection calls to make during the early stages of the summer.
COACH ANTHONY McGRATH SAID
“First time as coach, yeah, it was nice, especially with it being Lancashire as well.
“It’s a long time through the winter, and obviously pre-season tour and Abu Dhabi signals that you’re getting closer. But friendlies at home are always the real mark that the season is here for me.
“Jack’s been impressive, but they all have – right throughout pre-season.
“Tommo got a bit of concussion back end of the tour, so he didn’t bowl in the two-day game against Somerset. But they’ve all been really good. Hilly as well. He’s a proper bowler.
“Cliffy is quicker than I thought. I saw him a couple of years ago when he was fairly skinny and still growing. But he has some pace about him.
“He’s put some weight on in terms of muscle this winter, and obviously playing a full winter in Melbourne has helped him. But he bowled a spell against Somerset with an old ball in Abu Dhabi, and it was really, really impressive.
“On the seam front, depending on what wicket we get down at Hampshire, it’s going to be a tough attack to pick. Then, the overseas come (Ben Sears) from game two.
“That first game is going to be a real opportunity for people to put their hand up.”
