Frustration on and off pitch for Yorkshire (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Frustration on and off pitch for Yorkshire

7:45pm Thursday 10th May 2012 in Sport By Chris Parrott

So far, it's fair to say that Yorkshire haven't enjoyed their trip to Bristol this week very much.

On Wednesday, they were forced to watch the rain at the County Ground as the first day of their LV=County Championship match with Gloucestershire was abandoned.

Today, their mood was deepened further by events on the pitch.

This was after a superb innings from the New Zealand international Kane Williamson put Gloucestershire firmly in control in the west country.

Although another 44 overs were lost to the weather, he reached the close unbeaten on 89 to help his side to 165-2 in their first innings.

It means Yorkshire's chances of winning the game, which were slim anyway with the weather making it a two-and-a-half day contest at best, are now all but non-existent.

Gloucestershire and Williamson's efforts were all the more impressive after the Tykes had won the toss and elected to field on another grey and windy day.

Initially, it looked a good decision as well, with Tim Bresnan making the early breakthrough after rain had delayed the start of play by an hour.

Given the new ball from the Pavilion End, he looked dangerous from the off to force Benny Howell to edge one to Phil Jaques at third slip for only four.

This reduced Gloucestershire to nine for one, before Williamson joined Chris Dent in the middle to change the course of the day.

The duo were fortunate in the early stages of their partnership, as a number of chances dropped just short of the slip cordon, before blossoming after lunch to frustrate the Tykes attack.

A total of 92 runs had been added by tea, with Williamson passing 50 as Gloucestershire reached the interval on 116-1.

Another interruption from the weather then delayed proceedings further, before Yorkshire eventually made a breakthrough when Dent was dismissed for a fluent 62 when he was pinned lbw by Steve Patterson.

By this stage it was clearly Gloucestershire's day though, with the Tykes perhaps thankful by the close that only six more overs were possible before bad light forced the players off for good.

Meanwhile, Yorkshire have been hit by the news that Mitchell Starc has been called up for Australia A's tour of the UK later this summer.

It means that he'll miss three of the county's Championship games in July and August, as well as up to four CB40 fixtures and a potential Twenty20 quarter-final.