Derbyshire’s bowlers were made to work on Day One against Yorkshire at Headingley, before rain ended the day’s play shortly before 5pm.
England duo Joe Root and Harry Brook shared an entertaining and unbroken fourth-wicket partnership of 71 as Yorkshire started the match on the front foot in the Vitality County Championship clash at Headingley.
Root and Brook came together during the afternoon with the score at 205 for three, after Yorkshire had been inserted at the start of this Division Two fixture.
They built on the early good work of in-form opener Adam Lyth, who made 97, to help their county close the day on 276 for three from 59 overs.
When bad light intervened just before 4pm – there was no further play as rain followed – Root was 65 not out and Brook 44.
Root was accumulative in 99 balls and Brook much more aggressive with 37 against a Derbyshire attack, frustrated by four dropped catches either side of lunch, including Lyth on 22 and 80.
All of the catches went down behind the wicket, three in the slips, and it could have been a completely different story had Derbyshire been able to expose Yorkshire’s superstar duo to a much newer ball.
The two counties came into this fixture level on 28 points after three games towards the foot of the table. Yorkshire had drawn two and lost one, the latter against Middlesex at Lord’s last week. Derbyshire had drawn all three.
Batting conditions were not easy – overcast conditions and movement through the air and off the pitch.
Derbyshire’s former overseas player Shan Masood, Yorkshire’s captain, hit 10 fours in a 25-ball 40, for example.
Fin Bean was trapped lbw by Anuj Dal for 18 – 46 for one at the start of the 15th over, but his opening partner Lyth led the way for the White Rose.
Lyth was strong on both sides of the wicket in hitting 15 fours in 157 balls, narrowly missing out on a third century in four Championship matches this season when he edged Zak Chappell behind, leaving Yorkshire 205 for three in the afternoon.
Chappell was one of the Derbyshire bowlers taken to task by Pakistan Test skipper Masood during an action-packed morning. At one stage, he hit seven fours in 10 balls across two overs from Dal and Chappell, taking Yorkshire to 89 for one after 20 overs.
Masood then edged left-arm seamer Luis Reece’s second ball to second slip – 92 for two in the 22nd.
From there, Lyth and Root shared 113 inside 27 overs for the third wicket.
Root’s innings was in complete contrast to Masood’s. By the time the England man reached 40, for example, he had only hit two fours. Later on, Brook was even more aggressive than Masood. He drove with power and precision and lofted Reece for a straight six.
Having reached an 86-ball fifty during the latter stages of the afternoon, Root reverse swept Alex Thomson’s off-spin for four.
The weather came less than two overs later, ending the day shortly before 5pm.
