Hill leads Yorkshire to strong position against Glamorgan
George Hill was again in form after a career-best 169 not out two weeks previously
- Published
Vitality County Championship Division Two, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff (day one)
Yorkshire 361 (91.1 overs): Hill 90, Wharton 63, Bess 50; Gorvin 4-67
Glamorgan 12-0 (2 overs)
Glamorgan (3 pts) trail Yorkshire (3 pts) by 349 runs with all 10 first-innings wickets standing
Promotion-chasing Yorkshire batted themselves into a promising position as they ran up 361 against Glamorgan, who reached 12-0 in reply on the opening day of their County Championship Division Two encounter in Cardiff.
A sixth-wicket century stand between George Hill (90) and Dom Bess (50) was the highlight for the visitors after they were put in.
Most of the Yorkshire top order got themselves in, with James Wharton hitting 63, before three quick wickets fell in mid-afternoon.
Andy Gorvin (4-67) was the tidiest and most successful of the Glamorgan bowlers.
It was a performance Yorkshire needed, with rivals Sussex and Middlesex both dismissing their opponents cheaply.
Both sides chose to field an extra spinner at the expense of a specialist batter, while Glamorgan handed a debut to 20-year-old seamer Ben Morris and rested all-rounder Dan Douthwaite before the One-Day Cup final against Somerset on Sunday.
Adam Lyth and Finlay Bean made an untroubled start in a stand of 67, but Gorvin trapped Bean lbw for 23.
Lyth moved past 1,000 first-class runs for the summer for the fifth time and looked well set before falling in the same way as his partner, though Yorkshire’s 100-2 at lunch still meant they had the upper hand.
Jonny Tattersall (41) and Wharton took their partnership to 93 before three wickets fell in quick succession, starting when skipper Tattersall bottom-edged an attempted pull from a short Mason Crane delivery and wicketkeeper Chris Cooke clung on.
England batter Jonny Bairstow came and went for just two, driving Gorvin low to point, and Wharton was suckered into hooking the first ball of a James Harris spell to fine-leg.
But Hill, playing maturely at the age of 23, and Bess got after Crane to revive the visitors’ progress, as they reached purposeful half-centuries off 65 and 67 balls respectively before Crane had Bess lbw.
Ben Kellaway bowled Jordan Thompson for eight in the 80th over and Matthew Fisher edged Timm van der Gugten to slip for 10, but the hard-hitting Hill made sure Yorkshire reached the third batting point with eight down.
Glamorgan were left with two overs to survive, and Sam Northeast edged Ben Coad’s first ball through the slips before scoring two better boundaries.
Glamorgan’s Andy Gorvin told BBC Sport Wales:
“We were pleased to win the toss, but being honest with ourselves as a bowling group, we’re probably a little bit disappointed on the whole although we’ve got them all out and there are positives.
“Certainly in the first session the ball was nipping and swinging, so I’m just trying to put the ball in good areas. But after tea we didn’t bowl as well as we wanted to.
“Everyone playing this week is on it, hopefully Sunday [One-Day Cup final] is going to be a great occasion for the club and we’re all looking forward to it, but we’ve got three more days here first to concentrate on.”
Yorkshire’s James Wharton said:
“If you lose the toss and get put in on that sort of deck, we’re pretty happy overall to get [over] 350 and we can get stuck in bowling at them.
“I rode my luck and felt horrendous, then to get out softly [caught at fine leg] when it should have gone for six, it was incredibly frustrating, but we’re in a great spot so that’s the main thing.
“George Hill played unbelievably well and looked like he was batting on a different pitch.
“We’re winning games and any contribution from anyone is vital, the most important thing is getting back up to where we should be [Division One].”