County Championship: Yorkshire struggle before securing Hampshire draw

Yorkshire won seven and drew just once, against Warwickshire, at Headingley in the 2015 County Championship

Hampshire gave Yorkshire a scare before securing a draw against the Division One champions at Headingley.

The visitors declared on 453-9, after Chris Wood was caught off Ryan Sidebottom and Fidel Edwards was unable to bat having been injured warming up.

With a lead of 140 runs, Yorkshire were reduced to 43-4 as James Tomlinson and Ryan McLaren took two wickets each.

Andrew Gale (46) and Liam Plunkett (27no) saw the hosts to 183-8 declared as the sides settled for a draw.

Edwards, who was hurt prior to play on day four, extended Hampshire's injury list to eight players. The county have only 18 full-time professionals.

Despite being without one of their premier bowlers, the visitors ran through Yorkshire's top order for a second time in the match, with Tomlinson trapping Alex Lees lbw before having Gary Ballance caught at cover.

McLaren then had Adam Lyth caught behind and dismissed England batsman Jonny Bairstow, who scored a career-best 246 to rescue Yorkshire in the first innings, for just five as the visitors pressed for an unlikely victory.

Captain Gale steadied the innings before edging behind off the bowling of Wood, as the White Rose batted out the rest of the final day before shaking hands on a draw with 18 overs remaining.

Hampshire had looked unlikely to earn a draw when they were reduced to 128-5 in their first innings, trailing by more than 450 runs, but gritty centuries from James Vince and Sean Ervine ensured they left Headingley with an impressive 10 points.

Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale: "It's not panic stations - it's the first game of the season.

"If this game has taught us anything, it's that you can't afford to slack off for a couple of sessions against any team in this division - so we'll have to make sure we're really on it.

"I didn't feel we slacked off on the third day; I just felt we weren't at our best.

"Today, I thought we were just a bit sloppy and a bit soft. That's not a sign of the cricket we'd like to play. We've flagged it up, and it won't happen again."