Root hits 90 but Warwickshire on top against Yorkshire

Headingley, Day Two of the Rothesay County Championship Division One

Yorkshire 205 &amp, 232: Root 90, Bamber 4-60, Barnard 3-52

Warwickshire 253 &amp, 15-0: Davies 9*

To defeat Yorkshire (3 points), Warwickshire (4 points) needs another 170 runs.

In their County Championship match against Yorkshire at Headingley, Warwickshire rallied from England’s Joe Root to score a superb 90 and earn a target of 185.

Ethan Bamber, a visiting new-ball seamer, took four wickets to his five in the first innings to finish with impressive match numbers of 9-107, as Yorkshire were bowled out for 232 in their second innings late on day two.

From their final three overs, Warwickshire came up with a score of 15-0.

The Bears responded to a first-innings 205 and went on to win 253 all-out, with Australian Test all-rounder Beau Webster putting together a superb 85 off 86 balls on debut.

He was the last visiting wicket to fall when he attempted to attack against New Zealand quick Ben Sears, who finished with four wickets, to take the lead by 48 runs.

When Warwickshire’s bowlers resumed their dominance 35 minutes before lunch, they threw away at the wickets.

They created early pressure. In the third over, Amber bowled locum opener Dom Bess.

The first of seven straight maidens was bowled by him and his Halifax-born new-ball partner Olly Hannon-Dalby, who both hail from down the road, either side of lunch.

Following a collision with opener Adam Lyth, who went on to share a third-wicket 71 with Root, James Wharton was left at the non-striker’s end in the early stages of the afternoon.

Both appear assured, but Lyth’s effort was halted by 10 runs short of a fifty when he slammed behind to Ed Barnard’s seam, leaving the hosts 90-3.

Harry Brook lost his 20-game lead to 104 before the hosts reached 152-4 on the play around a full ball from seamer Michael Booth shortly before tea.

After George Hill edged Barnard to second slip, Jonny Bairstow top-edged a pull at Bamber behind six with wicketkeeper Kai Smith making a smart running catch. Yorkshire were 190-7, in a 142-point lead, when Jordan Thompson miscued as Barnard struck for a third time.

In his 100th start-class appearance for the county, Root, who hit 13 fours with 131 balls, looked commanding at the crease.

One shot boundary straight off Webster’s mid-off was particularly memorable as he hit his fifty with 64 balls.

He squandered a century by top-edged a pull to backward point off Bamber at 219-8.

Before Ben Coad was bowled for 28 by Booth for 28, giving Warwickshire a quick period of batting to navigate before the end, Dan Mousley was the catcher and the same combination did for Sears soon after.