Yorkshire Vs. Lancashire Friendly Day 1.

Hogg and White fight back against Yorkshire in friendly at Headingley.

Although this fixture has been labeled as a friendly, it is clear that it will be anything but, for a number of reasons. Any encounter between Lancashire and Yorkshire predicates on retaining personal pride and losing is not an option for either side. But this fixture will be of greater significance, after the first week of Championship fixtures proved to be unkind to both these teams, leaving them with a great deal to prove. For Lancashire, it is important to prove that they are capable of asserting dominance through their ability to take wickets. On the flip side, the batting of Yorkshire has been called into question, after their innings and 12-run loss to Sussex.

Lancashire were set to bat first, which would prove to be difficult under the incredibly windy conditions at Headingley. This was reflected by the hesitant start made by both Paul Horton (25) and Luke Procter, who both enjoyed half-centuries against Worcestershire. The latter was unable to truly settle himself, eventually playing-on to his own stumps off Ryan Sidebottom for 5.

Karl Brown joined the stand-in captain and Lancashire started to look increasingly confident, reaching the lunchtime interval with a total of 53-1.

But after lunch Lancashire’s luck changed severely, loosing Horton almost instantaneously and Stephen Moore (8) shortly afterwards, with both falling to the impressive bowling of Jack Brooks.

Brown had enjoyed the earlier stages of his innings, but he was now under a great deal of pressure to provide Lancashire with a source of runs, amidst the regular loss of wickets. This pressure took its toll when on 32 he edged to Gary Ballance at first slip, giving England international Tim Bresnan his first victim at 72-4.

The fifth-wicket partnership between Steven Croft and Tom Smith reinstated a degree of stability to Lancashire innings, which appeared to be struggling in the absence of Ashwell Prince and Simon Katich. The pair enjoyed a 57-run partnership before Yorkshire struck once more, with Smith removed LBW for 24, rewarding Liam Plunkett after a tough start to his spell.  

Much like the second wicket though, Lancashire’s innings collapsed after Yorkshire managed to remove Smith, with Croft being bowled by Rashid for 35 and the new man, Gareth Cross, failing to make any impact as he edged behind to Johnny Bairstow for just 2, giving Plunkett his second wicket.

By tea, Lancashire were 151-7 and there was more than a strong chance that Yorkshire would be batting before close of play. Lancashire have become more than accustomed to lower-order batsmen saving them from difficult situations and the presence of Kyle and Hogg and Wayne White before tea had redeemed the innings partially.

This continued after the break and initially brought relief to an otherwise desperate situation. But as the partnership developed it became apparent that both batsmen meant business.

The evening session put a total and utter spin on the days play, with both Hogg (69) and White (62) achieving half-centuries in an unbeaten stand of 136, to leave Lancashire 269-7.