“It’s not been a great day and if things go as they are doing, Durham might have it wrapped up very soon, which will be gutting,” Andrew Gale, Yorkshire’s captain, said. “With the run they are having, what can we do? We’re playing good cricket ourselves but we’re not bowling teams out for 70 every week.”
As news filtered through from Chester-le-Street that Durham had dismissed Nottinghamshire for 78, Yorkshire were recovering from the loss of both their openers after being put into bat in seamer-friendly conditions.
Adam Lyth fell lbw to Corey Collymore, the former West Indies seamer, to the eighth ball of the match and Phil Jaques edged Tim Murtagh behind in the next over.
Given the circumstances, it was to Yorkshire’s credit they fought back through Gale and Kane Williamson, their New Zealand overseas batsman, who hung in during testing new-ball spells to forge a 97-run third-wicket stand between showers.
Gale was the more progressive of the pair, reaching his half-century with a cut for four when Neil Dexter gave him some width, but Williamson played a crucial defensive role from the other end to ensure Yorkshire had a platform, taking 79 balls to score his first 14 runs.
Both batsmen showed great levels of concentration during the stand, which infuriated Gale all the more when he briefly lost that disciplined approach and pushed at a wider delivery from Collymore, edging behind for 66 only four overs after returning from a lengthy delay and only six overs before play ended prematurely through bad light.
He punched the air in frustration, which will only have heightened when news from Chester-le-Street reached him on returning to the dressing room.
