WATCH, County । Khaleel Ahmed gets last laugh after tough battle against Jonny Bairstow

The visiting skipper, Tom Westley, won the toss and decided to bat first, and his men posted a total of 368 runs in the first innings. Westley himself scored a century, racking up 107 runs off 239 balls with 12 fours, following opener and veteran batter Dean Elgar’s 94 runs off 128 balls. Besides these two, Noah Thain also scored 50 runs off 81 balls, with nine fours. Jack White scalped three wickets for Yorkshire in the first innings, alongside two wickets each picked by Ben Coad, George Hill, Dom Bess, and a wicket bagged by Will Sutherland. In response to Essex’s 368-run total, Yorkshire scored 459 runs, taking a lead of 92 runs. Matthew Revis played a brilliant knock of 150 runs off 187 balls, with 18 fours and two sixes, following Adam Lyth’s 84 runs off 257 balls, with 13 fours.

Meanwhile, what fascinated everyone in the second innings was the interesting face-off between the Yorkshire skipper Jonny Bairstow and Essex pacer Khaleel Ahmed. It all happened during the 61st over of the Yorkshire innings. Khaleel troubled Bairstow with a variety of deliveries on different lengths, and eventually, the last ball of the over was a bouncer and a short-pitched delivery, which took the leading edge of Bairstow’s bat. The ball went straight into the gloves of the wicketkeeper Michael Pepper, resulting in the end of Bairstow’s knock of 29 runs off 71 balls, with five fours.