Leaning edges advantage Yorkshire's way

At the start of the third day at Trent Bridge, it seemed that only a batting disaster comparable to Arthur Seaton's drunken tumble down the steps of the White Horse Club in the opening pages of Alan Sillitoe's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning would be sufficient to produce a result. That novel's Nottingham setting made this curious simile more apt than absurd but it seemed for most of the three sessions that neither side would exhibit the batting frailties likely to give their side the scent of victory.

A maiden century of high class by Jack Leaning had helped Yorkshire carve out a paltry first-innings lead of 13, only for the home side's openers, Steven Mullaney and Brendan Taylor, to wipe out that deficit in predictable comfort. Indeed, Nottinghamshire were 46 for 0 when, for the first time in this game, top order wickets feel in a clump.

Rather in the manner they displayed at Worcester a week ago, Andrew Gale's seamers showed that accuracy and a little movement could earn glorious rewards. Debutant Matthew Fisher struck the first blow when he brought the ball back just enough to have Mullaney lbw for 20. Six overs later, Tim Bresnan, so often a man to inflict crucial damage, moved one away from Alex Hales and the first-innings double-centurion nicked it to Andrew Hodd.

Ten minutes later, Brendan Taylor's loose half-drive proved an inadequate response to a Jack Brooks delivery which came back off the seam. The off stump was plucked out and Brooks careened away in joy. Wednesday's first session should be worth watching. So might the second. And you might be well advised not to miss the third either.

And yet, even when the evening's drama is taken into account, this sun-dappled Tuesday in Nottingham will be remembered for the batting of 21-year-old Leaning, whose first Championship hundred proclaimed authority and command. That Yorkshire's makeshift top order did not give Chris Read's bowlers a hope of victory is explained by the century made by Alex Lees on the second day and by the rather better one scored by Leaning on the third. It might be observed that we did not see a Yorkshire collapse because we were treated to a great deal of Leaning.

But, heaven preserve us, a treat it was. Leaning began the day with 3 against his name, and when he was brilliantly stumped by Read off Patel at just after 3.30pm he had added 113 more runs, most of them scored with rare accomplishment and understated style. He had batted for 259 minutes and faced 198 balls, eleven of which he hit to the boundary and one of which he stroked over it.

Helped principally by Rich Pyrah, with whom he added 111 for the fifth wicket and the hard-hitting "if it's up, it's off" Bresnan, with whom he put on 69 for the seventh, Leaning had taken Yorkshire to within one run off Nottinghamshire's first-innings tally when he came down the wicket to drive Patel and made his first glaringly conspicuous error. And yes, his innings probably merits another line of gold paint on the honours board of the Yorkshire Cricket Academy, whose graduates seem to be queueing up for first-team opportunities like talented X-Factor contestants or, for an older generation this one, Monty Python's gasmen.

On the evening when Yorkshire officials revealed that Peter Moores is considering a request that Adil Rashid be released from the England's tour of the West Indies in time for him to play against Warwickshire on Sunday, one was tempted to wonder what Gale's team might be if the four players currently not needed for Test duty were all available. Who would be dropped?

Not Leaning, that's for certain. Read's bowlers performed capably and well on the third day but he met them with the broadest of blades and the coolest of heads. Leaning has a presence at the crease which probably cannot be coached. Most people notice the signature shots like his pull through midwicket but it is the certainty and precision of his footwork which enables him to drive, cut and, when the opportunity presents itself, hit sixes over long-on, as he did off Patel.

The bowler probably recognised the quality of that shot and went back to his mark. By the end of the innings Patel's figures of 4 for 102 were a tribute to his persistence and his willingness to do some heavy lifting. Harry Gurney turned up for work too and his three wickets included the first of the day when Gale edged him to slip.

Yet this day belonged to Leaning, who learned much of his cricket at York CC. They may have raised a glass to him at the club's Clifton Park home when they heard the news of his hundred and it was good to hear Leaning himself say how pleasant it was to get his first century at Trent Bridge. For York, like Nottinghamshire on a different plane, is a proper cricket club. And in this spring of national reviews and studious navel-gazing, the truths proclaiming the quality of English game should not be forgotten.