Yorkshire edge first day of Roses clash

Sidebottom's early wickets gave Yorkshire the perfect start.

Yorkshire made the better progress on the first day of their Roses match against Lancashire, closing on 61/0 after they successfully bowled their hosts out for a sub-par score of 278 at Emirates Old Trafford.

Half-centuries from Luis Reece (53) Ashwell Prince (53) and Tom Smith (57) help Lancashire to recover after they found themselves 0/2 after the first three balls of their innings after they had won the toss and elected to bat first.

Ryan Sidebottom collected both of these early wickets and went on to claim figures of 3-42 as he led Yorkshire’s efforts with the ball, before Adam Lyth (25) and Alex Lees (36) posted an unbeaten stand to see the visitors to close of play unscathed.

Paul Horton found himself trapped lbw with only the second ball of the innings and when Usman Khawaja edged behind for a first-ball duck, Sidebottom found himself delivering a hatrick ball to Prince.

He and Reece then started to rebuild the innings, aided by a short boundary to one side of the wicket. The pair went on to share a stand worth 96 for the third-wicket as Lancashire pulled themselves back into contention.

Having reached his half-century in 57 balls, Prince displayed the level of class needed to save his side from an embarrassing capitulation, but his dismissal revealed a degree imprudence.

Attempting a reverse-sweep off Adil Rashid, Prince played the ball onto his stumps, handing Yorkshire a much-needed breakthrough with the hosts on 96/3. Reece soon followed his former batting partner, reaching his own fifty in 90 deliveries before lunch.

After making good progress before the interval, Reece became Sidebottom’s third victim when he was out lbw to the second ball after lunch. Steven Croft had played well before lunch and continued to make progress, now joined by Alex Davies (35) and the duo shared 48 runs for the fifth-wicket to help boost Lancashire’s total in the afternoon.

The in-form Croft appeared to be heading for a half-century of his own, but was to be undone by a swinging delivery from Jack Brooks (3-64) as he fell lbw for 38.

Davies then gave Richard Pyrah (1-35) his first and only wicket of Lancashire’s innings when a cover-drive found the hands of Jack Leaning, as the hosts reached 194/6.

The all-round contributions of Tom Smith continue to be vital for Lancashire as he once again contributed vital middle-order runs to keep Yorkshire at bay. He was assisted well by Stephen Parry (17) and their partnership worth 44 runs proved crucial in the context of Lancashire’s innings.

Smith reached the third fifty of the innings in 86 balls as he and Parry saw Lancashire to their first batting bonus point before tea. Once again, the interval brought success for Yorkshire as Parry was out lbw to Brooks who thenbut Brooks claimed the pivotal wicket of Smith with Lancashire on 267/8.

The final three Lancashire wickets fell for 18 runs as Rashid (3-77) claimed the final two wickets, removing Glen Chapple (9) and Simon Kerrigan (0), with Tom Bailey unbeaten on 7.

Yorkshire’s reply proved that Lancashire had underachieved in their innings as the visitors finished the first day with all ten first-innings wickets in hand as they look to build a sizeable lead tomorrow.