County Championship round-up: Bairstow's struggles go on after England rejection

Jonny Bairstow still cannot find the restorative runs for Yorkshire that would soothe being dropped from England's Test side. After scoring 25 in total in five Twenty20 knocks and then copping a first-ball dismissal in his only first-class innings since the final Test against West Indies, Bairstow at least made a start against Derbyshire in the top-of-the-table Division Two clash at Chesterfield, but was out for 27 when he dragged a ball from Tony Palladino on to his stumps.

His dismissal did not hugely inconvenience Yorkshire, at least not at first. Having chosen to bat first they advanced to 175 for three, with acting captain Phil Jaques – Andrew Gale is still out with a hip injury –sharing a partnership with Gary Ballance worth 81 at that moment.

But when Ballance was caught behind off Mark Turner it sparked a catastrophic collapse in which the last seven Yorkshire wickets fell for 44 runs, the first five of those for 10 runs in seven overs, with Jaques going for 61. Only a flurry of runs from Steve Harmison, who hit a six and three fours, scraped a batting point.

But Harmison, on loan from Durham, then devalued his contribution with the bat by conceding 27 in his first three overs with the ball.

Rain limited play in the First Division matches, but largely avoided Manchester, where the Lancashire all-rounder Steven Croft – included in England's provisional squad for the World Twenty20 – took three wickets bowling off-spin as well as two catches and executing a run-out.

Worcestershire were 94 for six at one stage, left-arm spinner Simon Kerrigan showing his recovery powers with three wickets after being taken apart by Kevin Pietersen at Guildford last week. But then a stand of 127 between Matt Pardoe (55) and Ben Scott put Worcestershire back on track after deciding to bat first. Scott went on to complete a century off 163 balls with 11 fours.