Ballance is toast of Scarborough landladies

Yorkshire 282 and 200 for 4 (Ballance 75*) lead Nottinghamshire 94 (Bresnan 3-15, Sidebottom 3-21, Brooks 3-41) by 388 runs
Scorecard

The second day of this match was probably not one on which any Yorkshire supporter was well-advised to stay at home and cut his hedge. On the other hand, it may have been wise for Nottinghamshire loyalists in Scarborough to turn off their phones and head instead for the Howardian Hills.

Unless more rains falls than is forecast, Chris Read's team will need to bat for around 150 overs to save a game they actually need to win. Wednesday's evidence suggests they are ill-equipped to get halfway towards this objective.

Nottinghamshire's decline on a day containing one collapse and the odd longueur gathered pace at 11.20 when Ryan Sidebottom ran in to bowl from the Peasholm Park End. Unkempt locks flopping in the breeze, the Yorkshire bowler looked uncommonly like a 17th century Puritan, an Anabaptist perhaps. It had already been a productive session for Sidebottom, who had dismissed Michael Lumb in his second over when the batsman groped at an away-swinger and edged a catch to Andy Hodd.

Now Steven Mullaney played a shot almost at right angles to a very straight ball which whacked into his pad. Sidebottom swivelled and demanded that divine judgement be visited upon the unrighteous. Neil Mallender, who might be flattered by such a notion, obliged. The moving finger was raised and Mullaney moved on.

Nottinghamshire were 48 for 4 when their opener was out and they had added only four more when Samit Patel attempted a brainless uppercut to a ball that was too close and too low for the shot. First slip Tim Bresnan took a two-handed head-high catch and Read's men were 230 runs behind with half their batting gone. Sidebottom had taken three wickets for five runs in 12 balls.

All this was greeted with cheers by the stallholders on the North Marine Road side until they contemplated the effects on their profits of a two-day finish. The Scarborough Festival is a celebration of all things Yorkshire but it's about making a bit of brass, too: there is the Yorkshire Foundation, a Yorkshire Bread stall and the whole affair is sponsored by - you guessed it - Welcome to Yorkshire. Even Jack Russell, that artist among wicketkeepers turned the real McCoy with brushes, makes sure there are pictures of the ground under his strawberry gazebo.

Sadly for those wearing green and yellow, the morning was no sort of celebration of all things Notts. Chris Read, their very present help at all times of trouble, was caught at cover by Alex Lees when attempting to pull a ball from Jack Brooks. Brendan Taylor, who risked cricketing vertigo by reaching double figures, inside-edged Steve Patterson onto his off pole and Bresnan cleaned up the tail. Notts lost their last eight wickets for 53 runs in 23 overs, their deficit was 188 and no member of Yorkshire's attack had bowled more than seven overs. We waited for the follow-on to be enforced and Scarborough's landladies held a summit meeting to consider the impact of a mass checkout.

But, dear reader, they batted on. Instead of going for the quick kill, Yorkshire's stand-in skipper, Gary Ballance, chose to hunt the stag to exhaustion. "We thought with a lead of 188, we didn't want to bat last on this wicket," he said. "We thought it better to get a big lead, rest the bowlers up and come out with a refreshed attack. We'll look to get a lead of 500 or so, depending on the weather, and then our bowlers will be ready to go."

All the same, with rain forecast, Ballance's decision surprised many, including some former first-class cricketers. Curiously, though, batting on was entirely in keeping with the spirit of the old-style Festival, when sides like TN Pearce's XI, MCC and the tourists played first-class matches in which winning certainly mattered but had to be incorporated into the overarching aim of making sure games went the distance.

So in the afternoon session, Yorkshire scored 113 runs off 35 overs. Lees levied a quartet of successive off-side fours off Mullaney before he was lbw to Brett Hutton for 30 and Adam Lyth had made a pleasant enough 41 when his leading edge was caught by the bowler, Luke Wood. In the evening session the lead was extended to 388 with Jake Lehmann and Jack Leaning passing up chances to make substantial scores but Ballance progressing ruthlessly to 75 not out.

It all made fine watching for most of the spectators on a summer afternoon plucked from an Enid Blyton story in which everyone is safe and the children go home for macaroons and ginger beer. Certainly the spectators were not complaining: cricket is the true faith here and watching Yorkshire grinding opponents down is how they enjoy spending their days.

And there was even talk of a pleasant epilogue to the cricket. It is rumoured that Ballance has been made a KGD (Knight of the Golden Dustpan) by Scarborough's relieved landladies. He would be the first Old Harrovian to receive the honour.