Nottinghamshire struggle on rain-hit day

The first day was a simple case of David Hussey versus Yorkshire. He was the only batsman to reach double figures on the truncated first day as Tim Bresnan in particular broke through the Nottinghamshire top order almost like a knife through butter. Helped by good slip catching, Bresnan took four cheap wickets as he moved the ball sharply at times and only Nottinghamshire's Australian import could stand up against bowling that would have done credit to an Ashes Test match.

Much of this day did little for the image of the game, mainly due to the pernickety 'health and safety' attitude adopted by the umpires John Steele and Neil Bainton towards the weather. There was a light drizzle just before play started, and when it stopped they decided the light was unfit, though it was scarcely dangerous. The usual sizeable Scarborough crowd grew increasingly angry before play finally started at 12.15 pm.

The pitch looked a batsman's paradise, and Nottinghamshire decided to bat on winning the toss. Unfortunately for them, they seemed to be still affected by the batting traumas of their recent defeat against Durham, and they struggled from the start against some typically fine bowling by Matthew Hoggard and Bresnan. The first boundary was a fortuitous edge through the slips by Bilal Shafayat, and in the seventh over, with the score only 12, Matt Wood edged a ball from Bresnan into the slips and was gone. Shafayat soon followed, lbw to a full-length ball from Hoggard, and Nottinghamshire were 15 for 2.

Hussey broke the shackles with a fine off-driven boundary off Hoggard, who nevertheless finished an opening spell with figures of 7-3-9-1; surprisingly, he did not bowl again. Dion Kruis was not a satisfactory replacement, as his line and length were erratic, and Hussey enjoyed his offerings, driving him through the covers twice for four. Kruis then responded with a sharp lifter that lobbed off Hussey's bat into no-man's-land on the off side, but this was almost his only dangerous ball of the day. Bresnan removed Mark Wagh, wafting outside the off stump and edging a catch to Gerard Brophy, returning to the side after a finger injury; 33 for 3.

Lunch was taken nine runs later, and then came a lost session. The umpires decided the light was too poor to start again after the interval, and this time the crowd took it rather better. Half an hour later the good news was that the light had improved; the bad news was that a drizzle had started. It was so light that scarcely an umbrella was seen and few spectators bothered to take cover. Play did not restart until 4.20, when the crowd were again growing restive.

The visitors' troubles increased, and without Hussey they would have been a disaster indeed. In the second over Samit Patel was caught low at second slip off Bresnan, but Kruis continued to bowl at the other end, to the pleasure of Hussey. He continued to hit him for off-side boundaries with ease, but Bresnan was much more challenging, and briefly there was a fascinating battle, as Bresnan beat him several times with superb deliveries, while Hussey was intent on taking control, hitting him too for superb fours, straight and to the off. In contrast Ali Brown was never happy and fell to another slip catch off Bresnan. When before has the normally aggressive Brown scored only 5 in a partnership of 41?

Hussey reached his 50, and it was a surprise to discover he faced as many as 71 balls, with a magnificent six over the sightscreen off Adil Rashid, who had taken two of the slip catches. Hussey also hit ten fours, one of them an overthrow early on when he was nearly run out backing up too far. Then, yet again, the umpires incurred the wrath of the crowd by taking the players off for bad light, and they did not come on again. It is scarcely good public relations when a crowd goes home feeling badly short-changed, and cricket's authorities need to take another long overdue look at their attitude with regard to poor, but not dangerous, light. Yorkshire still have to win a championship match, and they are on top in this one, despite Hussey, but they need a better deal from the weather and the umpires.