YORKSHIRE endured a topsy-turvy afternoon as Travis Head showcased his red ball talents on the opening day of the County Championship clash against Warwickshire.

Head, whose pedigree is largely in the shorter formats of the game, marked his first-class debut for the county with an entertaining half-century as Yorkshire ended the day 252-9.

That they reached that total was thanks to a defiant final wicket partnership between Steven Patterson and Ryan Sidebottom, who shared an unbeaten stand of 48 in the final hour at Headingley.

But it was Head who proved to be the most fluent of the Yorkshire batsman on a pitch that is offering assistance to both seam and spin bowlers.

“I enjoyed it. I knew coming in it was going to be a challenge because I’ve not faced a red ball for a while and it can be tough here in the first session,” he said.

“I felt really good today and a bit disappointed not to go and get a big score. I’ve probably let one slip and have done for the last couple of innings. I’m pretty happy with the way I’m batting at the moment and hopefully that can continue.

“It was swinging all day and nipping around. From what we can tell it’s a lot drier than normal, which means it will bring spin into play and [Adil] Rashid in the fourth innings for us.

“The talk around the camp was about 300 but we lost too many wickets. We batted hard at the end, though, and put ourselves in a nice position.”

Yorkshire skipper Andrew Gale had won the toss and elected to bat, but openers Adam Lyth and Alex Lees were only at the crease for 20 deliveries before rain brought about a 20-minute delay to proceedings.

Upon the resumption Lees (10) fell to Rikki Clarke’s third ball of the day, but Lyth played some eye-catching drives on his way to making 24.

But when he edged former Yorkshire seamer Oliver Hannon-Dalby through to wicketkeeper and Tim Ambrose shortly before lunch and Gale (14) fell in a similar fashion to Keith Barker not long after the interval, the game was in the balance.

Head (54) looked to grab the initiative, and brought up his half-century with a glorious drive to the cover boundary, only to pick out gully fielder Andrew Umeed three balls later to become Barker’s second victim.

Adil Rashid failed to muster anything on note before he too made his way back to the pavilion via an edge to Clarke at slip off Jeetan Patel, and at 130-5 the hosts were in desperate need of a partnership.

Enter form man Tim Bresnan, who put on 60 for the sixth wicket with Jack Leaning before the latter edged Barker to Clarke at second slip for 42 having hinted at a return to red ball consistency after a relatively lean season to date.

Bresnan (28) departed soon after as he picked out Patel on the square-leg boundary to gift Hannon-Dalby his second wicket, and when Andrew Hodd and Jack Brooks fell in quick succession the Tykes were in danger of failing to bat out the day.

But Patterson (35*) - along with the obdurate Sidebottom (11*) – brought up a second batting bonus point and moved the hosts into a position of parity by close.