Yorkshire's bowling attack to the rescue of Gale (From York Press)

Yorkshire's bowling attack to the rescue of Gale

10:52am Wednesday 5th September 2012 in Sport By Graham Hardcastle

Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale last night praised the patience of his bowlers after day one of the county’s vital LV=County Championship match with Glamorgan.

His comments came after the Tykes attack produced a superb fightback in the final two sessions of the day at Headingley to put the county into a dominant position by the close.

Glamorgan were dismissed for 272 in their first innings after losing the toss and being asked to bat first, before Yorkshire reached 20-0 in reply.

Gale said: “In the end it was a very satisfying day.

“At lunch I thought I’d made a massive mistake at the toss. In the end we stuck to the plan well and the task well and 272 is probably below-par on that pitch.

“We set ourselves some goals throughout the sessions and we stuck to those targets really well. I thought all the bowlers contributed well.”

The Yorkshire skipper had every right to be impressed.

Things looked gloomy for the Tykes until 20 minutes after lunch with Glamorgan on 124-0 before a terrific display of bowling from the county saw them hit back.

Steven Patterson was central to it with impressive figures of 4-49, while two wickets apiece for Ryan Sidebottom, Anthony McGrath and Azeem Rafiq underpinned a true team effort.

Gale added: “We had a chat at lunch. I think the boys were a bit flat because we’d won the toss and then the wicket had offered nothing and we were a bit disappointed in the wicket if we’re being honest.

“But we still believed we could give it a good go and said that if we could bowl them out for less than 300 then it would be job very well done. That’s what we managed to do.

“When I tossed up it was a bit cloudy so I decided to have a bowl and then when we came out for the start of play it was beautiful. I thought I’d made a mistake but by bowling first it gives us more of a chance of winning the game.”

The comeback saw Glamorgan lose all ten batsmen for only 148 runs, with the first two wickets particularly important after Will Bragg (92) and Nick James (38) had looked well set.

It was Sidebottom who struck first to remove James, before Patterson produced the first of his four wicket-taking balls to oust Bragg thanks to a smart catch from on-loan wicket-keeper Andrew Hodd, who once again impressed behind the stumps.

The same duo would account for Dean Cosker for 11 to finally finish off the visitors, leaving Yorkshire to negotiate six overs with the bat themselves.

Adam Lyth and Joe Root made sure no damage would be done, to leave the county 252 runs behind Glamorgan’s first-innings total ahead of day two.