YORKSHIRE’S cricketers cannot win the County Championship this week. But they can take a mighty stride towards doing so by beating Somerset and certainly they could have done little more than they managed on the first day of the LV= Division One game at Headingley.

Having bowled out Marcus Trescothick’s team for 110 in only 35 overs, Yorkshire were 138-3 at close of play. This lead already has the makings of a match-winning advantage and, even with rain around, it gives Andrew Gale’s side every chance of securing the victory they need. Dominance in a four-day match is rarely exhibited quite as strongly as this so early in the piece.

If there was a chief architect of Yorkshire’s superiority, it was surely Jack Brooks. Omitted from the side that drew the game at Hove, the Yorkshire seamer was restored to the eleven for this match and clearly relished bowling down the hill from the Kirkstall Lane End.

Having been given the opportunity to bowl first, Brooks and his new-ball partner Ryan Sidebottom tore into Somerset’s fragile batting, reducing the visitors to 20-5 inside an hour.

Tom Abell was the first to go, caught at slip by Alex Lees off Brook for two, and he was followed four overs later by Trescothick, who was bowled for five when he played inside a ball from Sidebottom which moved away from him a shade.

That set the tone for the first half of the day. When Brooks had Tom Cooper caught by Lyth, he reached the 50-wicket mark in Championship cricket and celebrated that achievement three balls later by bowling Jim Allenby for a duck when the batsmen shouldered arms.

Lyth then caught Hildreth off Sidebottom to leave the Somerset innings in tatters before Brooks returned to have Lewis Gregory lbw for 24 at a time when he and Luke Ronchi were threatening to engineer a modest recovery for the visitors.

Earlier Peter Trego had hit four boundaries in his 19 runs before he edged Tim Bresnan to Jonny Bairstow and Yorkshire’s joy was completed when Craig Overton drove Steve Patterson low but straight to Bresnan at short extra cover to leave Somerset on 85-8 at lunch.

A heavy shower interrupted the afternoon session for 50 minutes but it did not prevent Yorkshire’s onslaught. Ronchi was caught at short cover by Tim Bresnan off Brooks for 25 and Jack Leach edged Steve Patterson to second slip where Lyth took his third catch of the day. Brooks finished with 5-35, his best first-class figures for Yorkshire.

Having bowled the visitors out so cheaply in 35 overs, Yorkshire were 46-1 at tea, Lees falling lbw for 10 to Overton’s final ball before the interval. But Lyth completed his fifty off 85 balls and had added 65 with Gary Ballance when, having made 62, his drive at a wide ball from Allenby only skewed it to gully where Gregory took a fine one-handed catch to his right.

Gale was then bowled for five attempting to cut the slow left-armer Jack Leach but Ballance was 49 not out at the close. He, Jonny Bairstow and Arron Finch will attempt to grind Somerset into the ground on the second day before Brooks and Co. are unleashed again.

“I’ve been out of the team for a couple of games and I was as nervous as I’ve been all season before a match,” said Brooks. “I’ve got a good record at Headingley and I was trying to prove a point.”