Warwickshire v Yorkshire
(County Championship)
Day One

YORKSHIRE captain Craig White got himself out of jail on the first day of the Championship match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston yesterday.

For no apparent reason, White chose to field first and it seemed as if his plan had badly misfired with Warwickshire on 202 for three and looking set for a big score on a slow pitch.

At this stage, White came on to bowl for the first time in a Championship match since last August and in the space of 22 deliveries he picked up two crucial wickets to give himself his best figures in almost two years.

Warwickshire crumbled to 305 all out and they would have fared much worse if Yorkshire had not put down at least two catches as well as botching up a run-out opportunity.

White's bowling gradually petered out last summer because of his knee problems but he seemed comfortable enough yesterday while taking two for 11 in six overs and he showed that he has lost none of his ability to fluster batsmen with his deceptive pace off the pitch.

The first wicket for White was that of dangerman Alex Loudon, bowled off-stump for 73 off 121 balls with 12 fours, and he then had Mike Powell stunningly caught at gully by Anthony McGrath, who curled his hand round the ball as he leaped to his right.

It was McGrath, rather than White, who became Yorkshire's real hero with the ball, splendidly supported by John Blain.

After Yorkshire had shunned the chance to bat for the first time in the Championship this season, all eyes were on Jason Gillespie as the Australian made his muchpublicised debut for the county and his opening spell of seven overs cost only nine runs.

Gillespie bowled 22.1 wholehearted overs in the day and his sole success came late on when he had Neil Carter caught at deep backward square leg. It is only a week ago that he was playing Test cricket for Australia in Bangladesh and he needs time to acclimatise to English conditions.

Having weathered the early storm from Gillespie, Warwickshire's left-handed openers Nick Knight and Ian Westwood had moved their stand on to 60 when White turned to the increasingly dependable McGrath, who struck with his second ball to have Knight caught behind by Gerard Brophy for 30.

Blain, operating at the pavilion end, was only in the side because Mitch Claydon failed a last minute fitness test on a side strain, and he weighed in with an excellent spell.

Scorecard

Warwickshire v Yorkshire at Edgbaston

Warwickshire First Innings
N V Knight c Brophy b McGrath 30
I J Westwood lbw b Blain 25
I J Trott lbw b McGrath 43
A G Loudon b White 73
J O Troughton run out 73
M J Powell c McGrath b White 3
T R Ambrose lbw b Blain 13
H H Streak lbw b McGrath 9
T D Groenewald b McGrath 10
N M Carter c Blain b Gillespie 10
J E Anyon not out 0
Extras (b2 lb18 w7 pens 0) 27
Total (99.1 overs) 316
Fall: 1-60 2-64 3-153 4-215 5-221 6-251 7-
272 8-296 9-315
Bowling: Gillespie 22.1-4-50-1. Bresnan 21-5-
81-0. Blain 20-3-72-2. McGrath 22-7-62-4. White
6-3-11-2. Dawson 8-1-20-0.

Yorkshire First Innings
M J Wood not out 15
J J Sayers not out 0
Extras (pens 0) 0
Total 0 wkts (2 overs) 15
To Bat: A McGrath, M J Lumb, D S Lehmann, C
White, G L Brophy, R K J Dawson, J N Gillespie,
T T Bresnan, J A R Blain.
Bonus Pts: Warwickshire 3 Yorkshire 3
Bowling: Streak 1-0-1-0. Anyon 1-0-14-0.