England duo Joe Root and Harry Brook shared an entertaining and unbroken fourth-wicket partnership of 71 as Yorkshire dominated Derbyshire on day one of the County Championship game at Headingley.
Root and Brook came together at 205-3 after Yorkshire had lost the toss in this Division Two fixture, and they built on the early good work of in-form opener Adam Lyth, who made 97, to help their county close on 276-3 from 59 overs.
When bad light intervened just before 16:00 BST – there was no further play as rain followed – Root was 65 not out and Brook unbeaten on 44.
Root was accumulative in 99 balls and Brook much more aggressive – savage even – in 37 against a wilting Derbyshire attack, frustrated by four dropped catches either side of lunch, including Lyth on 22 and 80.
All of the catches went down behind the wicket, three in the slips, and it could have been a completely different story had Derbyshire been able to expose Yorkshire’s superstar duo to a much newer ball.
The first wicket to fall had a whiff of controversy about it. Fin Bean was trapped lbw by Anuj Dal for 18, although replays showed that fielder Pat Brown slid into the rope trying to save an earlier boundary. Had it been given four, Bean would not have been on strike to the ball he fell to.
Lyth was strong on both sides of the wicket in hitting 15 fours in 157 balls, narrowly missing out on a third century in four Championship matches this season when he edged Zak Chappell behind.
Captain Shan Masood, who made a 25-ball 40 against his former team, had earlier edged Luis Reece’s second ball to second slip but from there, Lyth and Root shared 113 inside 27 overs for the third wicket.
Root’s innings was in complete contrast to Masood’s. By the time the England man reached 40, he had only hit two fours.
Later, Brook was more aggressive than Masood. He drove with power and precision and lofted Reece for a straight six. It was certainly a Bazball-type innings.
Not that Root was completely becalmed. Having reached an 86-ball half-century, he reverse swept Alex Thomson for four.
