GAYLE
LEEDS (CMC):
WEST INDIES opening batsman Chris Gayle exhibited a briefly dominant innings and Worcestershire's batting was littered with similar knocks in a missed opportunity to put Yorkshire under pressure in their important English County Championship Division Two match yesterday.
Electing to bat, Worcestershire sped to a promising start at 41 without loss through Gayle and Stephen Moore, but almost all their batsmen got starts and failed to transform their innings into huge scores.
308 ALL OUT
Worcestershire eventually made 308 all out and Yorkshire were 96 for two in reply at stumps in a crucial battle at Trent Bridge between two teams fighting for promotion to Division One.
Gayle lashed 29 off only 17 balls, with seven boundaries, before he was dislodged by South African fast bowler Deon Kruis.
The bowlers chipped away at Worcestershire's batting, as everyone except Shoaib Akhtar (one) reached double figures but no one went beyond Vikram Solanki's top score of 48.
The next highest scorers were Steve Davies (44), Matt Mason (38), Moore (27), Ben Smith (27) and Muhammed Malik (21 not out).
Bowling for Yorkshire, medium pacer Tim Bresnan picked up three wickets for 45 runs, while off-spinner Richard Dawson (2-45) and Kruis (2-88) shared four wickets.
MCGRATH HITS 65
Yorkshire's reply moved along a brisk pace as Anthony McGrath raced to 65 from 54 balls with 12 boundaries.
Worcestershire are fifth in the table with 160.5 points and Yorkshire are third on 175, trailing Gareth Breese's Durham (197) and Lancashire (175).
