County Championship: Joe Clarke scores first century of season for Notts v Yorkshire
- Published
Joe Clarke has played for England Lions and is being tipped for a future call-up to the Test team
Specsavers County Championship Division One, Trent Bridge (day one): |
Nottinghamshire 324-5: Clarke 109*, Slater 76 |
Yorkshire: Yet to bat |
Notts 3 pts, Yorkshire 1 pt |
Joe Clarke's superb hundred helped Nottinghamshire to 324-5 on day one of their season opener against Yorkshire.
Openers Ben Slater (76) and Ben Duckett (43) added 75 for the first wicket, before Clarke excelled in his first Championship innings since moving to Trent Bridge from Worcestershire.
He ended 109 not out after several home batsmen failed to build on starts.
South African paceman Duanne Olivier, making his Championship debut for Yorkshire, finished the day with 2-74.
England Test captain Joe Root (0-27) bowled 12 overs of off-spin without taking a wicket for the visitors, and there is the enticing prospect of him facing international team-mate Stuart Broad when Yorkshire get their opportunity to bat.
Notts have ambitions of pushing for a first Division One title since 2010 after adding young English talents Duckett and Clarke to their batting line-up.
Duckett, who spent the final month of last season on loan from Northants before signing a three-year contract, scored a double-century in Notts' final warm-up match and began promisingly against Yorkshire.
However, he pulled a short Steven Patterson delivery to Matthew Waite at deep square leg to give the Yorkshire captain his first wicket of the season.
Fellow left-hander Slater was caught behind off Olivier, who has put his international career with South Africa on hold to play for Yorkshire on a three-year Kolpak deal, and he later accounted for Notts captain Steven Mullaney (31).
But 22-year-old Clarke remained unmoved and got to his century, the first in the County Championship this season, off 165 balls with his 16th boundary.
Nottinghamshire century-maker Joe Clarke:
"I watched Slats [Ben Slater] and Ducky [Ben Duckett] cash in last week at Cambridge and would have loved to have spent more time in the middle but I'll happily take this day instead.
"It has been a special day for me to get a hundred first game at Trent Bridge, I couldn't ask for anything more.
"I love batting here because you get value for your shots. I'm the lucky one today who managed to cash in and hopefully we can go on tomorrow and make it into a massive score and then really have a good crack at the Yorkshire boys."
Yorkshire captain Steven Patterson:
"It was a tough day. Obviously we chose to bowl first but the pitch probably offered less than we expected. We thought there would be more pace in it.
"It was a tough day's cricket and they played well, we know it wasn't going to be a 150 all out pitch but we felt if we bowled well and had a bit of luck on our side then maybe we could have kept them to 250. Obviously that hasn't happened."