Hampshire’s stunning morning session gives them LV= Championship advantage against Yorkshire – before bad weather forces early finish at Scarborough

Yorkshire crashed to 33-6 in the opening 21 overs of this LV= Insurance County Championship Division 1 fixture before later recovering to close on 158-8 inside 55 thanks to half-centuries from Will Fraine and Dom Bess.

Second-placed Hampshire’s overseas seamers Kyle Abbott and Muhammad Abbas shared seven wickets, the former finishing with 4-36 from 11.2 overs.

The mid-table hosts slumped as a potent attack made use of significant movement through the air and off the pitch before Fraine and Bess, 53 and 67 respectively, shared 116 for the seventh wicket through the majority of the afternoon.

There was no play beyond tea, taken at 3.45pm, and the day shorn of nearly 42 overs.

After Yorkshire captain Steve Patterson elected to bat upon his return to the side following a week out with a hamstring injury, Keith Barker set the tone for Hampshire by trapping George Hill lbw for a golden duck after only five balls.

Abbas then benefited from two batters misjudging attempted leaves; Adam Lyth played on and Jonny Tattersall was bowled. Sandwiched in between, he trapped Tom Kohler-Cadmore lbw as the score fell to 20-4 in the 14th over.

Abbott then added the wickets of Matthew Waite and Matthew Revis caught in the slips.

The vast majority of those runs were all scored behind the wicket.

Given the absence of some heavy batting artillery for Yorkshire, including Harry Brook due to England T20 duty, added to the potency of Hampshire’s bowling attack, it was a surprise that Patterson opted to bat.

But, on a North Marine Road pitch which offers notorious bounce, it may have been wise to insert given the addition of unsettled weather to those aforementioned factors.

However, Fraine and Bess went some way to vindicating the decision from lunch time onwards.

During the morning, Hampshire looked like breaking through almost every other ball as they found the perfect length to bowl - not too full, not too short.

At stages, a total of 75 looked a long shot for the hosts.

Afterwards, their lengths were more varied as Fraine and Bess excelled to the delight of an usually sparse Scarborough Festival crowd.

The first of the two rain breaks came at an important time for Yorkshire. That was two balls after the sixth wicket had fallen shortly after 12.30pm.

Had a full morning’s play been possible, Fraine and Bess may not have been there to write the afternoon tale.

Fraine drove handsomely. He took two boundaries off Ian Holland in the afternoon’s opening over to set the tone for a Yorkshire fightback against a Hampshire side chasing their eighth win in eleven games this season.

Bess scored his runs on both sides of the wicket and was more fortunate, edging boundaries over the slips off Abbas and Holland.

Abbott then reasserted Hampshire’s authority. He had Fraine, earlier dropped on one, caught at third slip off an attempted pull, leaving the score at 149-7 in the 51st over.

Fraine had reached his first fifty of the season in his fourth game off 122 balls moments before Bess reached his third off 83.

Joe Weatherley atoned for his earlier error at third slip with a smart one-handed catch above his head after the ball had looped up off Fraine’s glove.

Bess then fell with what proved to be the day’s last ball when a regulation edge was pouched by Liam Dawson at second slip off Abbott.

Umpires Peter Hartley and Neil Mallender abandoned the day just before 5pm.