Yorkshire, robbed of five of their leading pace bowlers through Test calls or injuries, did well to restrict Leicestershire to 286 for eight when bad light stopped play on the opening day of the Championship match yesterday.

But they might well have been even more successful if Chris Silverwood and Gavin Hamilton had made better use of the new ball after Leicestershire had won the toss.

The pair failed to exploit helpful conditions through the air and were generally so wide of the mark that openers Darren Maddy and Iain Sutcliffe could hardly lay a bat on anything. It was the tenth over before Maddy registered the first boundaries by turning Hamilton to long leg and third man.

At 25 without loss in 12 overs, Chris Elstub came on for Silverwood and immediately justified his inclusion in the side by getting Sutcliffe to tickle a legside catch to Simon Guy off the medium pacer's second ball.

Australian Darren Lehmann, captaining York-shire in the absence of David Byas, who is recovering from his knee operation, then brought on Gary Fellows for Hamilton. That proved a shrewd move because in his second over Ben Smith nudged an outswinger to Anthony McGrath at first slip.

A score of 28 for two rather flattered Yorkshire's bowling so far, but Maddy and Aftab Habib quickly settled into a stand of 108 in 33 overs with both batsmen taking full advantage of anything loose from the inexperienced attack.

Left-arm spinner Ian Fisher was never allowed to settle and Habib went after him from the start with a fine shot off his legs to the mid-wicket boundary and a lofted straight drive which brought him another four later in the over.

Maddy, who carried his bat with an unbeaten 158 in the corresponding match at Grace Road last year, was first to his 50 off 129 balls with seven fours, while Habib went to the same landmark in the grand manner with a towering six over long on.

Just when things were getting out of control, Silverwood struck in consecutive overs to send back both batsmen in by far his best spell of the day. Maddy, having moved to 66 off 150 balls with nine fours, could not avoid a splendid delivery which swung away late, and Habib was caught behind from a careless drive for 59 after receiving 119 balls and hitting six fours and a six.

Once again, Leicestershire wrested back the initiative with a positive 70 stand in 28 overs between Darren Stevens and Vince Wells before Hamilton also made amends for his loose start with a wicket either side of tea.

He nipped one back between Wells' bat and pad to bowl him through the gate for 27 and denied Stevens his half-century by trapping him lbw for 49 as he wandered across his crease.

Anil Kumble smacked Fisher over extra cover for six, but there was finally some reward for the spinner when Jon Dakin dragged him to Elstub at wide mid-on, and then Kumble left his crease for Guy to pull off the first stumping of his young career.

Neil Burns and Carl Crowe came together at 271 for eight and were still there at the end.