LV COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP
Yorkshire 123-1 v Worcestershire
Jacques Rudolph and Joe Sayers ended Yorkshire’s lean run of opening partnerships on the opening day of their LV Championship match with Worcestershire at Headingley Carnegie.
The two left-handers put on 123 in 46 overs before Sayers departed for 49 and incoming batsman, Michael Vaughan, only had time to face two balls before the rain set in and ended play for the day with the score unchanged.
It was Yorkshire’s only century partnership for the first wicket since Craig White and Sayers added 177, also against Worcestershire at Headingley, almost exactly two years ago. With Adil Rashid with England Lions, Yorkshire brought in left-arm spinner, David Wainwright, and they also preferred all-rounder, Ajmal Shahzad, to paceman Deon Kruis, while Worcestershire gave Championship debuts to their Namibian-born Dutch international, Alexei Kervezee, and David Wheeldon.
Put in to bat in cool and overcast conditions, Yorkshire had to take every care against good new ball bowling from Ashley Noffke and David Mason and Sayers enjoyed a life on three when he was put down at short leg by Moheen Ali.
The batsmen gradually took control and Sayers leg-glanced his first boundary to move into double figures after facing 63 deliveries, but Rudolph provided a moment of excitement when he top-edged a hook at Mason and the ball flew for six.
Rudolph moved to his half-century off 86 balls after the interval.
The scoring rate increased as Worcestershire’s attack began to lose some of its sharpness and too many deliveries were short and wide. The century stand came up in 226 balls but Sayers went to hook a short ball from Whelan but top-edged it on the legside and wicketkeeper Steve Davies made ground to his right to pouch the catch.
