COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE, Trent Bridge:
CLOSE OF PLAY, DAY ONE: Nottinghamshire 59, Yorkshire 260-8
Yorks 5pts, Notts 2pts
Match scorecard

Oliver Hannon-Dalby celebrates the wicket of last man Darren Pattinson

Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale scored a century after Nottinghamshire crumbled to throw the title race wide open.

Gale spent more than three hours at the crease and ended day one 147 not out with Yorkshire 201 runs ahead on 260-8.

Earlier, Notts were all out for 59, their lowest total at Trent Bridge since 1977, with only Mark Wagh and Ali Brown making double figures.

Ajmal Shahzad (4-21) and Oliver Hannon-Dalby (4-18) excelled and Moin Ashraf took two on his Championship debut.

Notts went into the game with a 22-point lead over second-placed Somerset and 25 ahead of Yorkshire in third.

The visitors won a crucial toss under overcast skies putting Notts into bat, and that decision immediately paid dividends.

Paul Franks, promoted to opener for the second innings in a row, fell to Shahzad for nought, one of five ducks for Nottinghamshire batsmen.

606: DEBATE Notts are becoming the Chokers of Cricket. Really will be a poor show to fall short again after the T20 and 40 over failures tony d

Notts found runs hard to come by and Alex Hales was caught by Adil Rashid at slip off Shahzad, with the score on just four in the seventh over.

That soon became 18-4 as Australian Adam Voges became Ashraf's first Championship wicket, before Shahzad accounted for Samit Patel for a seven-ball duck.

The overcast conditions and swinging ball helped Yorkshire but numerous Notts batsman will be furious at giving their wickets away.

Wagh and Brown put on 23 for the fifth wicket, the highest partnership of the innings, but Brown's dismissal for 16 triggered a trio of lbws for Hannon-Dalby, with Chris Read and Steven Mullaney going either side of lunch for no score.

From then on it was a formality and Notts recorded their lowest Championship score since 1988, when they were dismissed for 44 by Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

In reply, Andre Adams (4-82) got rid of openers Adam Lyth and Jacques Rudolph, and brilliantly caught Anthony McGrath at slip off Franks (3-54) to leave Yorkshire on 60-3.

Gale made sure Yorkshire stayed in the title race with magnificent century, his third and highest of the first-class season.

He shared a 111-run partnership with Jonathan Bairstow (36) for the fourth wicket, but Notts hit back in the final session.

Yorkshire had reached 129-3 for at tea, before Adams dismissed Bairstow and Gerard Brophy in quick succession.

Franks took the wickets of Shahzad and Steven Patterson cheaply, while Patel got rid of Rashid.

But Gale remained unbeaten on 147 at the close, scoring 21 fours in 170 balls at the crease.

BBC Radio Nottingham's Dave Bracegirdle:
"Nottinghamshire's bowlers did well to fight back in the final session, but they had no answer to the flowing bat of Andrew Gale.

"The Yorkshire skipper will go to bed a contented man, although as he tired he offered chances to Samit Patel, Chris Read and Andre Adams.

"By then he'd earned his good fortune and has blown the title race wide open again.

"Adams picked up four more wickets to take him to 62, the leading Division One wicket-taker in the country and he received good support from Paul Franks."

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