Up to Guy and Bairstow as early batsmen fail

Much depends on the experienced Simon Guy and the fast-developing Jonathan Bairstow as Yorkshire begin Day 3 only 65 runs ahead of Warwickshire with five second-innings wickets standing in their Second Eleven Championship match at Stamford Bridge.

Nightwatchman Paul McMahon's batting did not prove as menacing as his bowling - he was dismissed in the second over of Day 2 as Warwickshire sought to match Yorkshire’s first innings 199.

Steffan Piolet, formerly of Sussex, joined Seb Benton, and they plodded on towards the target, the Stamford Bridge pitch proving as slow as it had been when Yorkshire batted. Yet wickets fell at regular intervals, and no partnership was higher than the 36 of Piolet and James Ord. The innings ended at the delayed tea interval - still seven runs short of Yorkshire.

This left 25 overs in the day - enough for Warwickshire to take five second-innings wickets for a meagre 58. Joe Root, woken up by the telephone call summoning him to replace Joe Sayers the day before, struck two fours and Gary Ballance one in the opening partnership of 17. Greg Wood perished second ball. Richard Pyrah batted for all but an hour, his 5 runs off 37 balls being well below par. Nightwatchman Steven Patterson lasted eight minutes - his fall seeing Jonathan Bairstow join Simon Guy to bat for stumps.

It is up to Guy and Bairstow, the last recognised batsmen, to save the innings from oblivion. The events of the last two days suggests this will be a task too hard - but stranger things have happened in cricket.

Day 1: Bairstow top-scored with 58 including nine fours, but Yorkshire were bowled out for 199.

Left-hand opener Sayers - who captained the Seconds through the ill-fated one-day Trophy competition - departed suddenly for higher things, and it was a touch damp when Guy won the toss and decided to take strike.

Low Catton Road, after all, has the reputation of being a batsman’s paradise. Surely that was the correct decision?

Wood, opening with Ballance, may not have agreed: he was caught behind in the fourth over without troubling the scorer, but Ballance and the incoming Pyrah steadied the ship. The second wicket added 90 before Pyrah became the first of six victims to fall to off-spinner McMahon. The former Nottinghamshire and Oxford University player, trialling with Warwickshire, has proved a thorn in Yorkshire Seconds' flesh before: remember his six off the last-but-one ball to win the Trophy semi-final for his former county three seasons ago? So it was again.

McMahon bowled 28 overs unchanged from the scoreboard end to finish with 6-43, three of his victims being encouraged to offer return catches, and Yorkshire’s total of 199 meant no batting points.

A batsman’s paradise?

Yorkshire were left with almost an hour at the Warwickshire batsmen: 12 overs went down - six from the fiery but wayward Ajmal Shahzad, whose second over contained two no-balls, a four, a brace of twos and, most importantly, the wicket of Nicholas James, clean-bowled.

The second wicket, leg-before off Patterson, saw the nightwatchman come to the crease...it’s that man again, Paul McMahon.

Yorkshire 2nd XI 1st Innings: GS Ballance c Johnson b Tahir 58 (7 fours), GL Wood c Johnson b Groenewald 0, RM Pyrah b McMahon 49 (8 fours), SM Guy (captain and wicket-keeper) c & b McMahon 0, JE Root c MacLeod b Tahir 13 (1 four), JM Bairstow not out 58 (9 fours), Ajmal Shahzad b Tahir 0, DJ Wainwright c & b McMahon 14, SA Patterson b McMahon 2, JE Lee c & b McMahon 0, JM Finch lbw b McMahon 0. Extras (b 1, lb 1, w 1, nb 2) 5.
Total (81.5 overs) 199.
FoW: 1-4, 2-94, 3-94, 4-120, 5-121, 6-121, 7-163, 8-171, 9-177, 10-199.

Bowling: Daggett 9-2-48-0, Groenewald 14-5-28-1, MacLeod 9-0-39-0, Tahir 14-4-23-3, Miller 8-1-16-0, McMahon 27.5-9-43-6.

Warwickshire 2nd XI 1st Innings: SR Benton c Guy b Patterson 17, NA James b Ajmal Shahzad 9 (1 four), LC Parker (captain) lbw b Patterson 3, PJ McMahon lbw b Hannon-Dalby 15 (2 fours), SA Piolet c Wainwright b Pyrah 48 (5 fours), JE Ord b Pyrah 14 (2 fours), TD Groenewald c Guy b Patterson 16 (3 fours), RM Johnson (wicket-keeper) c & b Wainwright 14 (1 four), CS MacLeod c Bairstow b Wainwright 16, N Tahir c Root b Ajmal Shahzad 20 (3 fours), LM Daggett not out 5. Extras (b 1, lb 8, nb 6) 15.
Total (82.5 overs) 192.
Twelfth man: AS Miller.
FoW: 1-15, 2-20, 3-38, 4-70, 5-106, 6-132, 7-139, 8-156, 9-175, 10-192.

Bowling: Ajmal Shahzad  13.5-3-44-2, Patterson 17-7-30-3, Wainwright 18-8-19-2, Hannon-Dalby 6-2-17-1, Lee 4-1-12-0, Pyrah 10-3-25-2, Finch 14-5-36-0.

Yorkshire 2nd XI 2nd Innings: GS Ballance lbw b Tahir 8 (1 four), JE Root c Johnson b Groenewald 12 (2 fours), GL Wood b Groenewald 1, RM Pyrah c Johnson b Daggett 5, SM Guy (captain and wicket-keeper) not out 21 (3 fours), SA Patterson lbw b Daggett 0, JM Bairstow not out 1. Extras (lb 7, w 1, nb 2) 10.
Total (5 wkts, 25 overs) 58.
FoW: 1-17, 2-18, 3-27, 4-55, 5-57.

Bowling: Tahir 7-0-25-1, Groenewald 7-2-12-2, Daggett 6-2-8-2, McMahon 5-4-6-0.

Umpires: DJ Millns and RS Jakeman.  Scorers: M Snook and S Smith.

Words and Statistics: MICHAEL SNOOK