WHAT a difference a couple of days make!

After Yorkshire celebrated one of their best-ever victories in the LV= County Championship over Durham at the Riverside on Saturday, they were brought back down to earth with a bump by Derbyshire at Headingley yesterday.

Left-handed opener Chesney Hughes dominated the first day of this clash between last season’s promoted counties with a brilliant career-best 171 not out to help his side post 302-4 from 93 overs.

A difficult dropped catch by Jonny Bairstow, when Hughes edged Tim Bresnan behind on 70, was the nearest Yorkshire came to colaiming the 22-year-old’s wicket.

The visitors were invited to bat first by Andrew Gale, who sarcastically punched the air after winning his first toss of the summer.

Hughes and captain Wayne Madsen, who played second fiddle with 93, subsequently shared a second-wicket stand of 258 inside 69 overs, falling just two short of recording the highest total for that wicket in first-class matches involving Yorkshire at Headingley.

The hosts at least enjoyed success in the evening session to loosen Derbyshire’s grip as Steve Patterson, Adil Rashid and Liam Plunkett struck to take the score from 268-1 to 279-4.

“It was a long day, a tough day,” said Gale, who admitted his side missed the rested Ryan Sidebottom even though he did not regret the decision.

“I don’t think we were at our best with the ball. But to fight back in the evening session gives us hope.

“The lads have been ribbing me for a while about my tossing ability, so I was quite happy to win one. I thought it was a good toss to win.

“There was a bit of damp in the pitch and cloudy overhead conditions.

“You’d say it was the perfect Headingley morning for bowling. I don’t think we used the new ball as well as we could have. But fair play to Derby.

“Chesney batted well even though he chanced his arm a few times. Madsen played a chanceless innings.

“It was a good partnership, but thankfully we broke it and got a few more wickets.”

There was a marked difference between Hughes’s 282-ball knock with 25 fours and three sixes and Madsen’s effort, with the former playing with power and the latter happy to be more conservative.

Ironically, Madsen relinquished the opener’s duties in place of Anguilla-born Hughes, who had not previously faced the new ball this season.

The White Rose went wicketless between the seventh and 75th overs, although Jack Brooks and Patterson were miserly.

All of Derbyshire’s wickets were either caught in the slips or in the gully, with Bresnan taking the first early on yesterday morning after a rain-delayed start by 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, Joe Root and Bairstow have been named in the England Lions team for next Thursday’s four-day clash with New Zealand at Leicester.

Root will captain the side, and both will miss the Championship match against Somerset, which starts on Tuesday.