Success and sorrow followed hard on each others heels for Andrew Gale on the third day of Yorkshire’s LV= County Championship match against Warwickshire at Headingley.
The Yorkshire captain, in compiling his highest score since last July, managed to save his side from the strong possibility of having to follow-on.
But soon afterwards, with nine wickets down and Gale standing on 96, he flayed wildly at a full toss from Boyd Rankin and ballooned a catch to Sam Hain running in from cover.
Yorkshire were 303 all out and trailing by 132 on the first innings but it was a big improvement on 249 for eight when they still required a further 37 for safety.
They were seen over the line by Gale and Jack Brooks who added 54 together in 14 overs.
Brooks departed when he carved Rankin straight to Laurie Evans at third man to give Gale the strike with five deliveries of the over remaining.
He immediately missed an ungainly heave through the leg side only to perish off the very next ball, having received 182 deliveries and struck 10 fours.
Before the catch had been taken, Gale appeared to spread his arms to umpires Steve Garratt and Jeremy Lloyds asking if the ball had been above waist height but, after consulting, they gave him out.
The wrapping-up of the innings by Rankin resulted in him collecting career-best figures of six for 55, the in-form paceman overhauling last week’s effort of six for 75 against Hampshire at Edgbaston.
There was a lot of work for Gale to do at the start of the day when Yorkshire resumed on 128 for three with he and Jack Leaning both on 17.
In between a short break for a shower, Leaning played some elegant boundary shots but with the stand worth 97 he pulled Rankin casually to Hain at deep backward square leg.
Gale, looking confident after completing the four-match ban which caused him to miss the Champions’ curtain-raiser at Worcester, lost Andy Hodd to Rankin when he drove low to backward point and the captain completed his half-century the ball before another shower brought forward lunch on 222 for five with the safety net still 64 away.
The first eight balls of the afternoon saw their chances dip considerably, Tim Bresnan being bowled by the patient Jeetan Patel and James Middlebrook run out by a good distance after being sent back.
Steve Patterson batted responsibly until flirting outside off-stump at Rankin to give wicketkeeper, Peter McKay, a catch which he held at the second attempt.
This time the legality of the catch was not questioned as it had been the previous day when Cheteshwar Pujara fell in similar circumstances.
There was an early setback for Warwickshire after tea when Bresnan accounted for Varun Chopra for the second time in the match and Westwood was struck on the right glove by Brooks before he had scored.
Will Porterfield straight drove Middlebrook for six but in attempting another big hit in the same over was caught by Pujara at cover and, although the Headingley floodlights were in use for the first time, the players had a break for bad light at 93 for two with 12 overs remaining.
Another five overs were bowled on the resumption before play ended for the day with Warwickshire 108 for two and leading by 240, Westwood still there on 48 and Evans seven.
Commenting on Gale’s dismissal, ECB Cricket Liaison Officer, Stuart Cummings, said: “The umpires will do their review towards the end of the game.
“Neither of them felt they were confident to confirm the height of the ball and so the decision stood.
“I was watching what the umpires were doing and have no issue on that. If the umpires have an issue it will be reported by them in due course.”
A video of the incident indicated the ball may have been above waist height but Cummings said he would not have access to footage until it was downloaded to his camera.