White recovery

For no apparent good reason, White chose to field first and it seemed as if his plan had badly misfired with Warwickshire on 202-3 and looking set for a big score on a slow pitch.

But 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 316 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 longstanding knee problems but he seemed comfortable enough yesterday while taking 2-11 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 leapt to his right.

And 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 much publicised debut. His opening spell of seven overs cost only nine runs.

Gillespie bowled 22.1 whole-hearted overs in the day and his sole success came late on when he had Neil Carter caught at deep backward square leg, but it is only a week ago that he was playing Test cricket for Australia in Bangladesh and he needs a short 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. In the over after McGrath's breakthrough, Blain had Westwood lbw propping forward and he went on to gain another lbw verdict to send back Tim Ambrose to expose the tail.

McGrath, meanwhile, continued to seam and swing the ball with his slow-medium pacers and he finished up with 4-62 off 22 overs, his best analysis since his career-best 5-39 against Derbyshire in July, 2004.

Warwickshire would not have done as well as they did if White had not dropped Jonathan Trott at slip off Blain before he had scored and the batsman had another life on six when Gillespie had him put down by Brophy.

The best batting came from the nimble Jamie Troughton, He stroked 73 from 131 balls with eight fours and a six and was last out when he failed to make his ground going for a second run.

Matthew Wood and Joe Sayers safely negotiated the two overs remaining until the close with Wood scoring all 15 runs.

Seconds helping of victims

YORKSHIRE were poised to put the squeeze on Durham at Stamford Bridge after a fine middle day in the Second XI Championship game.

The Tykes' lead was 235 after they rallied to stifle a dangerous Durham chase.

Resuming on 45-2, Durham started well with Ben Harmison, brother of England bowler Steve, and skipper James Lowe shining.

It took a piece of good fielding by Yorkshire to run out Harmison for 76.

Lowe soon perished with the introduction of leg-spinner Mark Lawson for a sound 68.

Wickets then fell at regular intervals, with Nick Thornicroft 2-31, Chris Gilbert 3-37 and Lawson 3-50, doing the damage. Debutant off-spinner James Finch, aged 18, also weighed in with 1-55.

Unable though to enforce the follow-on, Yorkshire closed on 89-2. Skipper Richard Pyrah made 40, and another debutant, Greg Wood, aged 16, 26 not out.

Updated: 09:27 Thursday, April 27, 2006