Yorkshire had the tougher time of it on the first day of the championship match at Trent Bridge yesterday when 17 wickets crashed on a green seaming pitch which the umpires had to refer to Lord's.

When bad light ended play with 17 overs remaining, Yorkshire were in big trouble on 100 for seven after earlier winning the toss and bowling out Nottinghamshire for 184.

Umpires David Shepherd and Neil Mallender could report plenty of movement to unnerve batsmen but the bounce was quick and even and it was a lack of technique which brought about several of the dismissals.

Yorkshire's most successful pair with both bat and ball were Gavin Hamilton and Craig White who each returned their best bowling figures of the season and then put on 53 together, the highest stand of the day, to stage a partial recovery from 39 for five.

Captain Jason Gallian led from the front for Notts with a half century off 66 balls, ten of which he hit for fours, but Nottinghamshire would not have got as far as they did had Chris Silverwood and Paul Hutchison achieved greater control with the new ball.

Hutchison knocked out Tim Robinson's off-stump before he had scored but Usman Afzaal and Gallian then scored freely until Hamilton came on at 57 for one and trapped Afzaal lbw with his first delivery.

Three of Hamilton's next four victims were also lbw as he went on to claim a five for 30 return off 10.4 overs while White ended Gallian's spree by getting him caught behind on his way to capturing four for 44, his victims including his former Yorkshire colleague, Bradford-born Alex Wharf.

Wharf departed looking aggrieved to be given out caught behind and he later vented his anger by rushing down the pitch and apparently snarling at Anthony McGrath when entered the attack and flattened his off-stump with his third ball as McGrath offered no stroke.

Vasbert Drakes - capped by Notts before the start - and Paul Franks exploited the grassy pitch so well that the Yorkshire innings was soon in ruins at 11 for four in ten overs.

A great delivery from Drakes brushed Matthew Wood's glove as it lifted and left him and then Franks intervened with three wickets for five runs in nine balls. David Byas nudged a lifter to Gallian at first slip and Michael Vaughan and Richard Harden were caught low down by Graeme Archer at second.

McGrath was just starting to repair the damage when he committed his error of judgment, but Hamilton and White batted bravely with Hamilton shrugging off a nasty blow on the elbow from the aggressive Wharf.

The return of Drakes ended the recovery at 92, however, when White was late on a quicker ball which rattled his off-stump, and Richard Blakey was lucky to survive the next over from Franks in which he was beaten by each ball.

Poor light throughout the day worsened and there was just time for Hamilton to slice Franks to Archer at second slip before the players were off with Yorkshire looking unlikely to pick up a single batting point for the seventh time in 14 matches this season.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.