A round-up of the second day of the opening round of matches in Division 2 of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Oct-2010Bismillah Khan’s maiden first-class century led a strong Quetta reply to Hyderabad‘s 361 as they finished the second day on 209 for 2 at the Niaz Stadium. Wicketkeeper Bismillah dominated an 81-run opening stand and then added 115 with Taimur Ali. Taimur fell late in the afternoon for a sedate 42 but Bismillah remained unbeaten on 125 off 177 deliveries, hitting 13 fours and three sixes.Hyderabad’s Lal Kumar and Kashif Bhatti had carried on for another 38 runs in the morning, in an eighth-wicket partnership that finally tallied 161. Both fell to fast bowler Arun Lal, and Hyderabad were ultimately bowled out for 361, after having been 170 for 7 at one stage on the first day.Ahmed Jamal’s late strikes put Abbottabad in control on the second day of their encounter against Pakistan Television at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium. After conceding a first-innings lead of 69, Pakistan Television were at 93 for 2 when Awais Zia was run out for 40. Jamal then struck twice to reduce them to 114 for 5. With only a 64-run lead at stumps, Pakistan Television’s lower order will have to bat well to give themselves something to defend.Left-arm seamer Saad Altaf’s 11th first-class five-wicket haul had earlier reduced Abbottabad to 150 for 8, before Mohammad Kashif (56) and Armaghan Elahi (26 not out) lifted them to 219.Lahore Shalimar had their noses in front ending the second day on 213 for 4 in reply to Peshawar‘s 272 at the Sports Complex in Mardan. They would have been in a better position had they not lost the wicket of Arsalan Mir with the score on 203. Arsalan and Usman Salahuddin had added 77 runs for the fourth wicket before Arsalan’s dismissal for 45. Salahuddin was unbeaten on 54 and would be key if Lahore are to take a substantial lead. The Lahore top order batsmen got starts but fell to the legspin of Dilawar Khan.Sajjad Ahmed could score only two more runs in the morning, getting caught behind for 80 as Peshawar were dismissed for 272.State Bank of Pakistan ended day two of their match against Lahore Ravi at the Lahore Cricket Association Ground on 119 for 3, having bowled Lahore out for 268. Mohtashim Ali and Rameez Alam were the two unbeaten batsmen, on 45 and 25 respectively, having shared a 65-run partnership to steady State Bank after they had slipped to 54 for 3.Ashraf Ali, who made 80, was the anchor around which Lahore built their first innings. He got little support from the rest though, with extras the next highest score with 33. Mohtashim also took 2 for 15 with his left-arm spin, including the key wicket of Ashraf.

Shane Shillingford, the West Indies offspinner, has been reported for a suspected illegal bowling action following the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Nov-2010Shane Shillingford, the West Indies offspinner, has been reported for a suspected illegal bowling action following the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle. He will have to undergo testing within 21 days.Shillingford will have to submit to an independent analysis of his bowling action, which must be conducted by a member of the ICC panel of human movement specialists within 21 days. If he is found to have bowled with an illegal action during the analysis, Shillingford will be suspended from bowling in international cricket until he undertakes remedial action and is reassessed.Until the WICB receives a report of the assessment, however, Shillingford will be allowed to continue bowling in international cricket, which means he will be available for selection for the second Test against Sri Lanka that begins on November 23 in Colombo.Shillingford, who had figures of 4 for 123 and 1 for 79 in Galle, was reported by on-field umpires Steve Davis and Richard Kettleborough, along with third umpire Asad Rauf and fourth umpire Tyron Wijewardene. The umpires’ report cited concern over the straightening of Shillingford’s arm while he bowled some deliveries.

Before Sri Lanka and West Indies eventually called off their ODI series, the media and fans went through a harrowing 24 hours with officials unable to decide on whether the matches would go ahead

Andrew Fernando09-Dec-2010Rain was only part of the problem in Hambantota. An incomplete stadium and inconsistent communication from the home board added to the confusion•Manoj Ridimahaliyadda

After the rain-plagued failure that was the Test series, hopes of an uninterrupted one-day leg were not high among the media people covering the tour. The first match was in Hambantota and most journalists chose not to make the seven-hour trip from Colombo, choosing instead to work from home. The rest did so reluctantly, having heard reports from the ground that the venue remained desperately incomplete and that the weather was just as bad in the normally drier south-east as it had been on the rest of the island.The few of us who took the trouble to travel should have followed the lead of our wiser colleagues and not have bothered. I first got wind of a possible series postponement at around 5.00pm on Wednesday, when we were about two-and-a-half hours away from Sooriyawewa, the town that hosts anyone visiting Hambantota. One of my travelling companions received a news alert on his cellphone saying that Sri Lanka Cricket had announced a series postponement due to inclement weather.We immediately began making phone calls to other journalists and photographers to confirm the news. It seemed inconceivable that an international one-day series could be postponed – especially because of bad weather – on the eve of the first match, but everyone else seemed to have heard the same news that we had. The series had apparently been postponed.We turned back and headed towards Colombo but, on our way, managed to finally get through to SLC’s media manager for an official update. He told us that the board was looking to postpone the tour, but that the West Indies board was yet to get back on whether that would be possible. Realising now that the match could very well be on, and not wanting to take any risks, we turned around once more and headed for Hambantota.We arrived there at 8.00pm, having heard reports from various people about the state of affairs. Each new piece of information was more confusing than the previous one and we were yet to hear official word on anything. Late into the evening, we received news that there had been no postponement and this was confirmed on the morning of the game, despite the fact that it was raining heavily at the time. The match was back on.We made our way to the ground, not knowing what to expect; not that we could have been prepared for what we saw. The stands at the Mahinda Rajapakse Stadium were so far from completion, parts of it had barely taken shape. Much like the R Premadasa Stadium during the second Test, the new stands were just terraced concrete slabs; the driveways and carparks around the stadium were a mix of mud and loose gravel. Two gigantic cranes hovered over the ground and were at work when we arrived, while diggers and bulldozers littered the stadium’s perimeter as men in hard hats ran around trying to get things ready on the inside. The temporary press box had a roof and a floor, but two large portions of wall were missing, meaning that wind blew through the place as journalists attempted to work. The scaffolding that was positioned alongside most of the buildings completed the picture. To say that this was a stadium under construction would have been a severe understatement.Once inside, the media manager quickly confirmed that the series would go ahead as planned and we set up for the day, despite the fact that it had rained incessantly since the morning with no end in sight, and there was little hope of any play. We sat and waited.We didn’t have to wait long for the next in an endless series of U-turns. Apparently the series had been postponed once again. The official word came via an email from the Sri Lanka board at 1.39pm, less than an hour before the scheduled start of play. SLC were backpedalling at an alarming rate.They then said that although the boards had considered postponing the series on Wednesday, they had decided to stick it out for one more day – on a suggestion from the meteorological department – to see if the weather would improve enough. It hadn’t. Apparently the same department had forecast bad weather throughout the island until the end of December, which is why they had decided to call off the series at the last moment. This response, just like everything else that had come from the board in the last 24 hours, only raised more questions than it answered.

Saeed Ajmal, the Pakistan offspinner, is likely to miss the first Test against New Zealand in Hamilton, which starts on Friday, after returning home to attend the funeral of his father

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Jan-2011Saeed Ajmal, the Pakistan offspinner, is likely to miss the first Test against New Zealand in Hamilton, which starts on Friday, after returning home to attend the funeral of his father.The PCB said necessary arrangements had been made to facilitate Ajmal’s return to Pakistan after his father died on Tuesday. Ajmal played in Pakistan’s tour game against a New Zealand Cricket XI that ended on Tuesday, and did not bowl in the second innings of that game.”He is devastated by the sudden death of his father who expired after being taken to hospital, complaining of fever in the cold weather,” a board official said.Ajmal, who’s played nine of Pakistan’s 17 Tests since he made his debut in July 2009, was expected to be in the XI for the first match of the two-Test series. The only other spin option in the Pakistan squad is left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman.Pakistan have already made one change to their squad since they first announced it, bringing in seamer Sohail Tanvir after he was pronounced fit.The PCB also said it would announce the squad for the one-day series in New Zealand by next week.

The MCG’s curator, Cameron Hodgkins, has denied reports that he was asked to prepare a lively surface for the forthcoming Boxing Day Test, to aid Australia’s bid to regain the Ashes in the wake of their emphatic victory at the WACA last week

Andrew Miller in Melbourne23-Dec-2010The MCG’s curator, Cameron Hodgkins, has denied reports that he was asked to prepare a lively surface for the forthcoming Boxing Day Test, to aid Australia’s bid to regain the Ashes in the wake of their emphatic victory at the WACA last week.Speaking in the build-up to the match, Hodgkins told reporters that the decision to switch to a pitch with a better grass covering was a personal one that he took before the result of the third Test was known. But, he added, there was little chance of any of Melbourne’s drop-in wickets providing anything approaching the sort of pace and bounce that so troubled England’s batsmen in Perth.”No, not at all,” said Hodgkins, when asked if he had been under orders to ramp up the life in the surface. “A few people would like to believe that was the situation, but the last time I spoke to someone from Cricket Australia was in the middle of winter. It’s entirely a personal thing and it was something I did two weeks ago, so it wasn’t on the spur of anything that happened in the last week or so.”Having batted with consummate ease in their previous two innings of the series, in which they amassed a total of 1137 runs for six wickets at Brisbane and Adelaide, England’s campaign hit the buffers at the WACA, where they were bowled out for 187 and 123 to lose by 267 runs. With Australia tempted to persist with the four-man pace attack that did the damage in that match, the prospect of a greentop would play into their hands, especially with them needing to force another victory to regain the Ashes that they lost in England in 2009.However, Hodgkins tempered expectations by pointing out that the MCG does not have a great reputation as a bowler’s paradise. “I would think on the WACA’s worst day they would still be faster and bouncier than anything we normally turn out,” he said. “We’re quite slow on the first day normally and it probably causes the most difficulty for batsmen who want to get on with it, so patience is normally a fairly key ingredient here. If you don’t have that then you can be four or five down early on and the game over.”England’s batsmen were given the hurry-up by Mitchell Johnson and his team-mates in Perth, but the idea of a surface that rewards time at the crease will be welcomed by any number of the top order, in particular Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott, who compiled a triple-century stand in the first Test at Brisbane, and Paul Collingwood, whose place is under scrutiny following a poor run of form, but who invariably saves his best for times of crisis.According to the curator, one factor that is unlikely to come into play is swing – at least, not the extravagant degrees of swing that Johnson extracted in the first innings at Perth, where he was aided by a strong breeze and by a succession of batsmen who had not expected him to be so effective, including Kevin Pietersen, who admitted on Wednesday that he had simply not lined him up properly.In the enclosed environment of the MCG, the winds – in Hodgkins’ words – tend to “slingshot” off the stands so that a northerly wind ends up assisting the pacemen from the Southern End, but in general the pitch is of the type where success comes from aiming at the stumps. Reverse swing, which has been a factor at the venue in the past, has also been in scant supply this summer due to the heavy rains that have kept the surfaces from developing their usual abrasive characteristic.”Victoria do tend to bowl first here, because it’s an easy pitch to bat on, but it should be one of those tosses where it doesn’t really matter,” said Hodgkins. “The MCG wickets have never really been accused of being fast and bouncy, so it’s more something that will offer something up front, then get quite flat towards the end of the match.”That could make it difficult for either team to take 20 wickets, and Australia need to win either in Melbourne or Sydney to regain the urn. But Australia’s wicketkeeper Brad Haddin said the conditions were not a concern, despite their success on a vastly different pitch at the WACA.”The beauty of Test cricket and playing in different countries, and even in Australia on different grounds, is the uniqueness of all the different wickets,” Haddin said. “You’ve got to adapt to wherever you play. That’s the beauty of Test cricket. Whatever pitch the MCG produces, it’s always going to be a good one and it’s always going to be a good spectacle for the crowd.”

New Zealand’s lead-up to the World Cup has been besieged by distractions, but Ross Taylor maintains his single-minded focus towards “rectifying his poor form, and winning a lot more games for the team”

Nitin Sundar13-Feb-2011New Zealand’s lead-up to the World Cup may be besieged by distractions, but Ross Taylor’s says his primary concern before the start of the World Cup is, “rectifying his poor form, and winning a lot more games for the team”.In addition to the team’s recent barren run in one-day cricket in the subcontinent, New Zealand have also had to deal with off-field controversies, but Taylor said the team was not affected by issues around them.”Both the incidents [Jesse Ryder’s tweet and Tim Southee’s in-flight controversy] were blown out of proportion,” Taylor told ESPNcricinfo. “There are various distractions on and off the field, but you just have to get on and do what you do best, which is play the game of cricket. That’s what the team are doing, and these distractions won’t interfere with the way we play.”New Zealand had experimented with their batting order in the series against Pakistan, pushing Brendon McCullum down the order without much success. Taylor revealed that the plan had been shelved, and that New Zealand will begin the World Cup with the top six that faced Ireland in their warm-up game, with McCullum and Martin Guptill opening the batting, and Ryder slotting in at No. 3. “The top six won’t change,” he said. “That [the line-up that faced Ireland] is the order that we will be playing in the World Cup.”New Zealand were made to sweat before beating Ireland, after Guptill’s century lifted them to 311. Ireland got within 32 runs of the target, but Taylor chose to dwell on the positives. “Any time you score over 300, you are very happy with that,” he said. “We did not bowl as well as we would have liked. The wicket [at the VCA Stadium Nagpur] was very good. But we know there’s a long way to go.”Taylor admitted that the inability of the batsmen to convert starts was an area of concern, but indicated that the side was turning the corner in that regard.”We have shown in the last two games we played, we have scored two hundreds [Ryder scored a hundred in the final one-dayer against Pakistan, before Guptill’s ton in the warm-up game] and gone on to win the games. Going on to get those three-figures is going to be very important leading into the tournament. If we can get someone to score 100 in every match then we are going along well towards posting a good total, or chasing down a total as well.”The World Cup will be Daniel Vettori’s final assignment as the captain of the side. Taylor, who has led the side in Vettori’s absence, is widely tipped to take over the reins, but he is conscious not to look that far ahead. “After the World Cup, the selectors, and the NZC will choose who they think is fit to do the job, and that’s out of my hands,” he said. “I am not focussed on that at all, I am just looking forward to the World Cup and scoring runs.”New Zealand have traditionally punched above their weight in World Cups, having made the semi-finals three times in the last five editions. Taylor cautioned the more fancied teams to expect another strong show from his side, despite their indifferent lead-up to the event. “We have not been playing as well as we like in recent times,” he said. “We know that [after the first round], it is a knockout format and we enjoy it. We just need to get through the pool stage and then we are just two wins away from the final. So our focus is to do well in the pool stages and once you make the quarters anything can happen.”

The website entrusted with handling online sales for World Cup tickets crashed within five minutes of starting sales for the semi-finals and finals

Sharda Ugra21-Feb-2011If ever a URL contained an entire saga in its few words, it had to be the one that thousands of World Cup ticket buyers found themselves facing on Monday: . The ICC World Cup 2011 is currently defined not by its month-long group matches, the presence of the game’s much-abused fringe element, the Associates, or its extremely malleable home advantage quarter-final round, but instead by its ticketing errors.The ICC is understood to be working with the host boards – which are responsible for ticketing – on resolving the issue. The options include taking the tickets off sale and instead distribute them through lots. The hosting agreement gives the hosts the responsibility for distribution, stamping and printing of gate tickets and hospitality tickets; it also says the hosts “will exercise strict control to conduct efficient orderly production and distribution and hospitality”.The most prominent errors took place on Monday afternoon when the servers of Kyazoonga.com, the ICC’s official ticketing partners, were overwhelmed with the load as the site went ‘live’ with sales for the final and semi-finals at 1pm India time. The website received close to ten million hits in a matter of minutes – half a million at any given moment – many of those people refreshing the site. It would have needed, a Kyazoonga staffer said, a server farm the “size of a football field” to keep up with that kind of demand. The site crashed by 1.05pm and the few people who had got into the system and begun purchasing their tickets found their plans hanging somewhere in cyberspace.The website went online again around 9.30pm IST with a statement that no tickets for the finals & semi-finals had been sold on Monday due to the system issues and that updates about the ticket sales would follow. So, all the tickets allocated for online sales will still be available once the Kyazoonga network teams in India, Europe and the United States get their servers up and running again. Kyazoonga were not willing to reveal an approximate time when that was expected to happen.A Kyazoonga spokesperson said while the surge in traffic had been expected, the site had not anticipated its scale. When ticket sales for World Cup group matches first went live on June 1, 2010, there had been no issues over server capacity. The firm had expected the demand to be several times over for the knockout games, “maybe five to ten times over but not 100.” There were even people knocking at the door of the Kyazoonga offices in New Delhi asking to purchase World Cup final tickets.What has also infuriated World Cup fans – whose angry comments on ESPNcricinfo hit the newswires all day – is not merely the fact that it has been impossible to buy tickets for the final online, but that there are so few tickets available to the general public at a venue with a very small capacity by Indian standards. The 33,000-seater Wankhede Stadium is one of the two smallest Indian grounds hosting World Cup matches. Only Mohali with a capacity of 27,500 is smaller. The rest are as follows: Eden Gardens – 63,000, Motera – 54,000, Chepauk – 45,000, Ferozshah Kotla – 42,000, Nagpur – 45,000, Chinnaswamy – 37,000. Among the 33,000 seats in the Wankhede, only 4000 are for sale to the public – the rest will be distributed to the ICC and the Mumbai Cricket Association’s member clubs – which is a disproportionately small number for the biggest event in world cricket. All previous finals have been held at larger venues except for the 2007 final in Bridgetown and the first three editions. Those were played at Lord’s, which at the time had a capacity of 28,000, but the number of tickets made available to the public was still somewhere around 14,000.The ticket pricing at the Wankhede, according to the ICC’s official ticket guide, is the most expensive across the World Cup. The price-range for the first match at the Wankhede on March 13, New Zealand v Canada, is between Rs 2500 to Rs 3750. The March 18 match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka ranges from Rs 5000 to Rs 7500. The World Cup finals tickets are priced between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000.The other issue surrounding tickets that has affected grounds in India is that ticket sales are heavily dependent on the host team’s presence in any match. India are hosting most of the neutral games while co-hosts Bangladesh are staging only the six group matches featuring their own team and two quarter-finals, and Sri Lanka are hosting 13 matches, five featuring the home team, six as stand-in hosts for Pakistan, and one quarter-final and a semi-final.

Ireland’s coach Phil Simmons has joined the clamour of condemnation following the decision to limit the 2015 World Cup to just the ten Test-playing nations, describing the move as “despicable”

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Apr-2011Ireland’s coach Phil Simmons has joined the clamour of condemnation following the decision to limit the 2015 World Cup to just the ten Test-playing nations, describing the move as “despicable”, and adding that the announcement on Monday had been “a dark day for cricket but a great day for greed and fear”.Ireland’s players and administrators have reacted with undisguised disgust to the decision from the sport’s governing body, with the team captain William Porterfield and the chief executive Warren Deutrom leading the outcry. The team is currently ranked 10th in the world, above Zimbabwe, and lived up to their growing reputation by beating England in a thrilling run-chase at Bangalore during the recent World Cup.However, they have been given no opportunity to build on a series of performances that captured the public imagination during the recent tournament, despite confirming the progress of a close-knit team following their spectacular victory over Pakistan at the 2007 World Cup.”It is a dark day for cricket but a great day for greed and fear!” said Simmons, the former West Indies opening batsman. “It is hard to find words to describe this despicable decision made by some who want to keep things among themselves and some who fear us.””There can be no cricketing reasons for this decision, as we answered the cricket question, the television rating question, and we are 10th ranked nation in the world – so what else is needed?”I`m afraid the next World Cup will be like the American World Series – you are crowned World Champions but the world did not take part – congratulations to India on winning the last real World Cup.””Finally – congratulations to ICC for pulling the game we love back ten years!”A Cricket Ireland statement said it was currently in discussions with fellow associates and affiliates about the avenues of action left open to them following the ruling by ICC.Deutrom earlier described the decision as “an absolute black day for the sport”. “It’s nothing short of outrageous,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “All of the principles by which a decision should have been made in the first instance – which is what’s best for the sport and what’s acting in the best interests of all 105 members – have clearly been abandoned.”

George Dobell at New Road20-Apr-2011Stumps
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The last time Worcestershire won a Division One championship game at New Road, Graeme Hick made a double century and Tony Blair was still Prime Minister. 84 months have passed since that game against Gloucestershire, in May 2004, and every subsequent Worcestershire assault upon the top division has lasted just one season and ended in relegation.But their performance on the first day of their game against local rivals, Warwickshire, revived hopes that their fortunes could improve this season. For they go into the second day – just 46 behind and with eight wickets in hand – with an excellent chance of establishing a match-winning position.That they find themselves so well placed is largely due to the sterling efforts of Damien Wright. The 35-year-old vindicated his captain’s decision to insert Warwickshire by harnessing the conditions expertly and claiming the 14th five-wicket haul of his career.Very well he bowled, too. Pitching the ball on a good length and generating sharp movement, Wright delivered a performance that might have been described as that of an ‘old fashioned English seamer’ had he not hailed from Casino in New South Wales. Ian Westwood, perhaps surprisingly preferred to Darren Maddy in the Warwickshire team, was bowled by one that swung back sharply, before William Porterfield drove to short mid-off and Mohammad Yousuf, the Pakistan batsman making his Warwickshire debut, edged a good outswinger from Matt Mason to slip.Wright won good support from Worcestershire’s other seamers, with Gareth Andrew especially impressive. The 27-year-old allrounder, a much improved cricketer over the last season, showed decent pace and generated sharp lift as he troubled all the Warwickshire batsman. First he ended Varun Chopra’s promising innings with one that may have kept a little low, before Richard Johnson, playing instead of the injured Tim Ambrose, edged a brute of a ball that bounced and left him and Ant Botha was bowled through the gate by one swung back between bat and pad.Jim Troughton and Rikki Clarke added 53 for Warwickshire’s fifth wicket but, when Wright, at gully, held on to a superb, juggling effort it precipitated a collapse that saw Warwickshire lose five for 33. Clarke, who had scarsley played a false stroke, was undone by one that bounced and left him, before Miller was caught off the glove by one that reared.It could have been even better from a Worcestershire perspective. Had they accepted either of two chances offered by Chris Woakes, Warwickshire wouldn’t have got anywhere near 200. As it was, Woakes was reprieved on four, when an edge off Mason flew between second and third slip, and again on 23 when Matt Pardoe put down a straightforward chance on the square-leg boundary off Andrew. Had it been taken, Warwickshire would have been bowled out for 169.Instead, Woakes earned his side a batting bonus point and something of a foot hold in the game. With Boyd Rankin he added 42 for the tenth-wicket, timing the ball sweetly and farming the strike masterfully. The only drawback, from a Warwickshire perspective, was that Woakes strained his wrist while batting and was never quite at his best with the ball.If Warwickshire are to fight back, they’ll have to bowl far better than they managed on the first evening. Failing to heed Worcestershire’s example, Warwickshire bowled too short and seemed preoccupied with pace over line and length. The carry may have looked impressive as ‘keeper Richard Johnson took ball after ball above his head, but the batsmen left it with ease.James Cameron and Daryl Mitchell certainly enjoyed it. Worcestershire’s openers brought up the 100 in just 20 overs, with both posted men punishing anything short and feasting on the regular leg side deliveries.Warwickshire did have a chance to claw their way back into the game. But, after Cameron had bottom-edged a pull and Mitchell edged his push at one outside off stump, Warwickshire squandered the opportunity to make further inroads when Botha put down Solanki at slip off Rankin when the batsman had scored just seven.Perhaps Warwickshire can consider themselves a little unfortunate. Batting was desperately difficult in the morning session and conditions did appear to have eased just a little by the time Worcestershire batted.But, if they are honest with themselves, they’ll admit that the hosts utilised the conditions far better and realise they have to tighten up their line and length considerably on the second day of they are to claw their way back into this match.

Dynamic swing bowling by Ryan Sidebottom against his former county led to Yorkshire dominating the first day’s play in their County Championship battle with title-holders Nottinghamshire at Headingley

20-Apr-2011Stumps
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Rich Pyrah picked up a career-best 5 for 58 as Nottinghamshire were bowled out for 143 at Headingley•Getty Images

Dynamic swing bowling by Ryan Sidebottom against his former county led to Yorkshire dominating the first day’s play in their County Championship battle with title-holders Nottinghamshire at Headingley.The left-arm paceman, who returned to his native county at the end of last season, grabbed four wickets and Richard Pyrah a career-best five as Notts were fired out for 143, Yorkshire then replying with 213 for 5 by the close to give them a lead of 70.To rub salt into the visitors’ wounds, the debacle came after they had won the toss. Having chosen to bat, they were taken by surprise by the amount of swing Sidebottom obtained in a lethal new-ball spell which brought him three wickets for 15 runs in nine overs, five of which were maidens.Yorkshire made two changes from the side which lost to Durham by 143 runs last week, Oliver Hannon-Dalby and left-arm spinner David Wainwright replacing Steven Patterson and Moin Ashraf, and it was Hannon-Dalby who dealt the first blow by shattering Mark Wagh’s stumps in the fourth over with one which nipped back.The score was on seven and two more wickets fell without addition as Sidebottom struck with consecutive deliveries. Paul Franks edged to second slip where he was brilliantly caught by Anthony McGrath and Samit Patel was pinned back on his stumps, leaving Adam Voges to block the hat-trick ball.Pyrah replaced Hannon-Dalby and captured a wicket with his first ball thanks to another stunning catch, this time by Adam Lyth at first slip. Another fine inswinger from Sidebottom had Ali Brown lbw to leave Notts on 43 for 5 and it became 56 for 6 when captain Chris Read paid the penalty for an ungainly heave across the line at Pyrah and was caught behind by Jonathan Bairstow.Notts would have been in even deeper trouble but for some splendid batting from Alex Hales, who welcomed the introduction of spin by driving Wainwright for six and bringing up his 50 in the same over with his seventh four.But Notts were soon in trouble again after lunch, the second ball from Pyrah being tickled to Bairstow by Steven Mullaney, and Pyrah picked up a further wicket when Andre Adams had a swing and was bowled. Yorkshire’s catching continued to be of a high standard and Luke Fletcher’s thick edge was well held by Lyth at third slip to give Sidebottom final figures
of 4 for 30.With only Charlie Shreck remaining, Hales once more went on the attack by pulling Pyrah for four and six but in trying to repeat the shot he was caught on the midwicket boundary by Gerard Brophy for 85 from 89 balls, with 10 fours and two sixes. Pyrah’s figures of 5 for 58 meant it was the second time within a week that he had enjoyed a career-best return.There was an early shock for Yorkshire as Joe Root nicked his first delivery from Shreck into Read’s gloves, but Lyth and McGrath quickly settled into a second-wicket stand worth exactly 100 in 26 overs, aided early on by some indifferent work in the field. Franks should have cut off a boundary and Fletcher gave away four runs when he hurled back McGrath’s defensive push and
the ball sailed well over the top of Read’s head.Lyth played some crisp strokes in going to his first half-century of the season but Yorkshire suddenly loosened their grip on the match in the evening session, beginning when McGrath was lbw to Adams for 49.Having been lured into several mistimed pulls by Fletcher, Lyth went for the stroke once too often and played straight into the waiting hands of Franks at long leg, the left-hander’s 64 coming off 118 balls with eight fours. Incoming batsman Bairstow had little chance of keeping out a shooter from Fletcher which hit his off stump and half of Yorkshire’s wickets were down for
144 when Brophy cut at Fletcher and was caught at third slip by Patel.The slide was halted by captain Andrew Gale (47 not out) and Rashid (39 not out), who retrieved the situation by adding an unbroken 70 by the close.