CENTURION Gary Ballance and five-wicket star Ben Coad led a stunning Yorkshire fightback during yesterday’s opening day of their Specsavers County Championship match against Hampshire.

Yorkshire were in trouble at 152-7 midway through the opening afternoon of the season having been asked to bat first at Headingley.

They lost five wickets for 42, including overseas debutant Peter Handscomb for 25, as signs of their top order struggles of recent seasons were evident again.

But, also as in previous seasons, the tail wagged to ensure a total of 273 before Coad struck five times with the new ball to reduce the visitors to 58-5.

“Coady bowled outstandingly,” said Ballance. “He’s a young lad who has improved over the winter, and getting his first five-for will give him a lot of confidence. It was fully deserved.”

A number of Yorkshire’s batsmen got starts before playing loosely, although West Indian Fidel Edwards bowled quickly for three wickets, two of which underpinned the afternoon collapse.

Alex Lees, Handscomb, Tim Bresnan, Azeem Rafiq and Ballance were all bowled.

Lees and opening partner Adam Lyth looked in good order for 20 and 30, although Edwards removed Lees and Lyth feathered Gareth Berg behind as he attempted to leave alone before lunch.

Handscomb then drove at Edwards and was bowled as Yorkshire slipped from 110-2, with Jack Leaning trapped lbw by Berg shortly afterwards.

Bresnan was bowled for a duck by a full and quick Edwards delivery before Andrew Hodd also fell without scoring, caught at second slip off Kyle Abbott as Yorkshire fell to 132-6 in the 41st over.

That became 152-7 when Rafiq played around one and was bowled by Abbott.

Step forward Ballance, the new Yorkshire captain, who found help from Steve Patterson, the pair sharing 106 for the eighth wicket either side of tea.

Ballance enhanced a quite remarkable record as a first-class captain.

He has captained both Yorkshire and Zimbabweans MidWest Rhinos eleven times dating back to 2011, and he has now scored eight hundreds and four fifties in those matches.

Incredibly, this 190-ball knock with 17 boundaries was his third in four matches as a Yorkshire skipper.

He played strongly on both sides of the wicket, while Patterson hit a more than useful 31 as the hosts claimed two batting bonus points.

At one stage, it would have been no surprise to see Yorkshire finish with less than 200 and no bonus points.

Ballance’s innings was ended when he was bowled by left-arm spinner Liam Dawson in the 72nd over as the score fell to 258-8.

Dawson also trapped Josh Shaw lbw at 266 on the board before Coad was the victim of a stunning one-handed diving catch from James Vince at third slip as Brad Wheal wrapped up the innings midway through the evening.

Thankfully, Coad’s day was about to take a turn for the better as the new ball seamer bowled with aggression to rip the heart out of Hampshire’s top order with 5-18.

He trapped Jimmy Adams lbw in the second over and had Vince caught at mid-wicket in the fourth, leaving the score at 18-2.

Michael Carberry then edged him to third slip before Sean Ervine chipped him to mid-off.

And when South African Rilee Rossouw fell lbw in the day’s penultimate over, the pendulum had swung firmly in Yorkshire’s favour.