Trott failure leaves Warwickshire in strife

Warwickshire 217 Yorkshire 128-3

(PA)

Launching the County Championship season in the second week of April was clearly a masterstroke after all.

Spectators here turned up with extra layers, but fears that the clatter of leather on willow would be accompanied by the chatter of teeth proved groundless as the mercury edged upwards.

The assessment that Warwickshire will struggle once Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott are seconded to England has not, however, changed.

Bell helped himself to half a dozen boundaries, but then edged a ball from Tim Bresnan that left him late and Jonathan Bairstow took a fine catch behind the wicket, diving to his right.

With Bell gone for 31 they needed something of substance from Trott. But he ran into an ever better ball as Steve Patterson, the tall right-armer, found some bounce and movement, Bairstow this time snapping up a more routine catch and making Andrew Gale, the new Yorkshire captain, feel pleased for putting the home side in.

Gale, at 26 Yorkshire's youngest captain since 1933 and their sixth in nine seasons, said the moment he led the team out here would be "the proudest of my life''. So far, it must seen like a doddle. Five times he brought on a new bowler and was rewarded with a wicket immediately, starting when Bresnan removed Bell.

The captain's day did not go perfectly in reply to Warwickshire's 217 but Joe Sayers held things together with a 50 and Gale was looking secure alongside Jacques Rudolph at the close.