Nottinghamshire’s bowlers dismissed the reigning county champions inside 82 overs on the opening day of their Specsavers County Championship match against Yorkshire at Scarborough’s North Marine Road ground.
Yorkshire were bowled out for 282 but at one stage in the morning session they had slumped to 51 for six. Andrew Hodd, with an unbeaten 96 and Azeem Rafiq, who made 74 led the fightback, before Jack Brooks weighed in with 48 towards the end of the innings.
Steven Mullaney picked up three for 54, all taken during a dramatic opening spell, and Brett Hutton claimed three for 67.
In the closing 12 overs of the day Notts lost the wickets of Jake Libby and Tom Moores, in closing on 38 for two.
Mick Newell said the first aim had been to bowl out Yorkshire in the day.
“We were confident to let Yorkshire bat first and I think today we were outstanding at times,” he said. “But obviously from 51 for six to let someone get 280 is disappointing, given how well we were bowling at times before lunch.”
The momentum had been given to Notts by a spell from Mullaney but it was the decision to put him on so early, that delighted the director of cricket.
“Fair play to the captain,” said Newell. “It was an experiment that worked very well. He felt with the ball swinging that Mullaney is as good as anybody in this team, in those conditions, and he certainly got the ball to swing and was a threat.”
Yorkshire’s seventh wicket stand held up the visitors, during the middle part of the day. “That partnership has made it more difficult for us but at six down for 50, even with a partnership, you’d think less than 200 would be something we could achieve, so we’re disappointed that they got as many as they did and we’ve got to bat well tomorrow.”
Newell said it was a blow to lose Moores’ wicket in the closing over.
“It was disappointing because I thought he looked excellent but there’s still a lot of hard work to do and we’ve got to dig deep.”
Nottinghamshire gave a first team debut to Tom Moores, but were rocked when Harry Gurney was ruled out of the contest through injury.
With the visitors taking the brave decision to bowl first, they needed a breakthrough and got it in unusual circumstances.
Mullaney entered the attack to bowl the ninth over of the contest and deflected an Alex Lees drive onto the stumps, running out the non-striker Adam Lyth for 12. Having done the same to remove Jesse Ryder in the T20 quarter finals, it was easy to understand Mullaney’s celebrations.
The decision to bowl Mullaney so early proved to be one of tactical genius as the medium-pacer ran amok to leave Yorkshire in trouble.
Lees was second to go, edging to Brendan Taylor at third slip and the bowler then exerted further pressure by having Jake Lehmann taken by Samit Patel at second slip.
Mullaney’s third wicket was something of a gift as Tim Bresnan shouldered arms and was palpably lbw. By that stage the home side had been reduced to 51 for five and another wicket fell without further addition to the score as Jack Leaning chased Brett Hutton and snicked it quickly to Taylor at third slip.
The other wicket to go down in the morning session had been that of Gary Ballance, as Luke Fletcher trapped the acting captain lbw.
Rafiq and Hodd mounted a spirited fightback either side of lunch in a seventh wicket partnership that proved to be particularly frustrating for the bowling side.
Both played positively, as Read rotated his attack. Rafiq brought his 50 up from 75 balls, having hit eight boundaries.
The introduction of Patel brought about the breakthrough, as umpire Mallender raised a finger in support of another lbw appeal.
One wicket brought another, as Steven Patterson then became the fourth to go, leg before as Imran Tahir got his first scalp of the match.
Hodd’s 50 arrived from 115 balls, with six fours but he was then matched shot-for-shot by Brooks.
The number ten batsman played attractive strokes all around the wicket to inflict more pain upon the visitors. Mullaney’s return was greeted by a huge leg side blow from Brooks which sailed over long leg and out of the ground for a mighty six.
Brooks eventually chopped on for 48, falling to Hutton, who closed out the innings with the fifth lbw of the day as Ryan Sidebottom fell without scoring, leaving huge disappointment around the ground with Hodd so close to his first ton for the White Rose.
The atmosphere changed dramatically as Brooks struck with his first delivery at the start of the second over, pinning Libby for a golden duck. Moores was gifted his first single by a Rafiq mis-field and then had a slice of fortune as an edge off Sidebottom found its way through the slip cordon.
The 19-year old wasn’t so fortunate when Bresnan was called upon to bowl the final over and an edge flew safely into the hands of Lyth to leave Notts two wickets down overnight.
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