Fell hundred keeps champions at bay

Perhaps it was only right that champions Yorkshire should have begun the defence of their title at Worcester. This, after all, is where the photographers come when newspapers wish to salute the opening of the English season; New Road was also where the ECB wisely decided to launch the 2015 County Championship; and this ground, lest we ever forget, saw a sweatered Richie Benaud lead out the Australians for the opening match of their tour one gelid April morning 54 years ago. Worcester does not just symbolise English county cricket; its gentle beauties encapsulate it.

Yet what made the first day of this game special was not just a sense of occasion and topographical charm. There was hard cricket to be played before a good-sized and appreciative crowd. By the end of business Tom Fell had shown he might have what it takes to prosper in Division One with an assured century, while judgment on others in the top order must be reserved.

When poor light prompted the umpires to take the players off 14 overs early, Worcestershire had reached 264 for 8, a decent enough effort, although coach Steve Rhodes may remind his charges that substantial first-innings are not generally achieved when only five of the top seven batsmen reach double figures. Yorkshire's bowlers, most notably Jack Brooks and Tim Bresnan, will probably be happy with their efforts on what is presently a flat wicket.

The home team's total plainly owed most to 21-year-old Fell, whose crisp, assured strokeplay took him to a third Championship century in 174 balls. During his 118-run third-wicket partnership with Moeen Ali, who was dropped twice in making 62, the home side appeared on course for a score that would have emphatically justified Daryl Mitchell's decision to bat first on a dry pitch which the skipper's two spinners might enjoy later in his match.

Fell and Moeen's resistance took up the first half of the day and was all the more welcome given that things had not begun promisingly for the Worcestershire. Indeed, both openers were dismissed by Brooks inside the first eight overs. Richard Oliver edged a slash to Andrew Hodd behind the stumps and Mitchell nicked a lifting ball high to second slip where Jack Leaning took a fine two-handed catch above his head.

Matters would have looked even better for Yorkshire had Hodd clung on to a chance offered by Moeen before he had scored, but the keeper's faint touch merely deflected the ball to the boundary. The unfortunate bowler was Ryan Sidebottom, whose disappointment was as naught compared to his unbearable anguish when Jeff Evans had turned down his lbw appeal against Mitchell in the third over. At such moments King Lear on the heath has nothing on the gory-locked Yorkshire seamer.

Maybe the dreadful tragedy of his rejected beseechment prompted an exhortation from Sidebottom that winds should blow and crack their cheeks. Certainly a sudden gust flattened a dozen advertising boards a few moments later, causing a five-minute delay.

Fell, though, remained commendably unruffled by both human and climatic outbursts. Driving sweetly through the covers, clipping efficiently to leg and working the ball with professional accomplishment through the slips, Worcestershire's No 3 was unbeaten on 40 at lunch, when Mitchell's team were 77 for 2, a position they would have accepted with alacrity 90 minutes earlier, especially as Moeen had been spilled again, this time at short cover by Will Rhodes off Steve Patterson when only 21.

The play immediately after lunch saw a flurry of boundaries and the warmest weather of the day. Yet just as it took no more than a cloud in front of the sun to have spectators delving for extra layers, so one felt that the fall of a wicket or two would pose problems for Mitchell's batsmen against the best seam attack on the circuit.

So it proved. Bresnan tempted Moeen into one too many drives and Hodd gratefully pouched the catch; less than half an hour later the same bowler trapped Worcestershire debutant Alex Gidman on the crease for seven; and when Tom Kohler-Cadmore's unwise pull off Brooks only bottom-edged the ball onto his stumps, Worcestershire were 171 for 5 and a lot of good work had been undone.

Fell was unbeaten on 99 at tea, by which interval he and Ben Cox had steered their team to 190 for 5, but wicketkeeper-batsman Cox edged a push off the tormented Sidebottom to Bresnan at third slip five balls after the resumption. Then Fell himself departed six overs later, his authentic leg glance being well caught by a diving Hodd.

Worcestershire's final resistance of the day was led by Gareth Andrew, who celebrated his recovery from a lumbar pedicle fracture with a very competent 42 not out. Playing his first Championship match since last May, Andrew has special reason to welcome this season.

But, in truth, so did many others this bright Sunday when the cathedral bells summoned the faithful to New Road and when the grass stains on the fielders' trousers as the players left the field were a welcome sign of verdant spring and the return of the precious Championship.