Yorkshire and Leicestershire traded blows during an intriguing weather-affected day one of the pivotal Rothesay County Championship clash at Scarborough.

Josh Davey removed openers Adam Lyth and Will Luxton inside the first four overs of a 10th-round fixture which could yet end with Yorkshire looking at a realistic title challenge or a realistic relegation battle. But third-wicket pair James Wharton, who finished with 70 not out off 129 balls, and Sam Whiteman took the sting out of the situation either side of lunch, sharing 115 en route to a close of play 144 for 5 in 52.5 overs.

After stand-in Foxes captain Ian Holland won the toss under overcast North Marine Road skies, Davey – 2 for 22 from 10 overs – squared Lyth up and had him caught behind before uprooting Luxton’s middle stump with one angled in to the right-hander.

From there through to lunch, Leicestershire’s bowlers were unable to maintain the pressure, with their first and second-change bowlers Josh Hull and Tom Scriven going at more than five runs per over. Wharton and Whiteman, one an England Lion and the other a current state captain of Western Australia, united with good effect. The latter made 49.

They were understandably watchful but both pushed boundaries down the ground in eye-catching fashion to take the lunchtime score to 84 for 2. Wharton had 44 by that stage.

Yorkshire’s position in the Division One table is a fascinating one. They started this round of fixtures joint fifth in the table with Sussex, 17 points clear of second-bottom Leicestershire and 27 behind leaders Nottinghamshire.

Their players and coaches are certainly looking at the situation with a glass-half-full view. It highlights just how jam-packed the Division One table is and strengthens the view that the Championship is the premier red-ball competition in the world.

Wharton whipped the first ball of the afternoon for four wide of mid-on off against Davey and reached his fifty very soon afterwards, off 79 balls. He and Whiteman followed that by recording their century stand, while the latter then picked up a seven made up of a three to third off Scriven and then four overthrows as wicketkeeper Jonny Tattersall tried to run Whiteman out at the non-striker’s end.

But Leicestershire’s bowlers did get their mojo back in useful conditions; overcast skies and nip and extra bounce in the pitch. Scriven and Tattersall united to oust a driving Whiteman – 121 for 3 in the 42nd over – before Matthew Revis followed caught behind down leg off Alex Green with 140 on the board.

Left-arm quick Hull then had Jonny Bairstow caught behind on the drive following extra bounce – Tattersall’s fourth catch of the day – with Yorkshire now 144 for 5. Only one more ball was bowled before bad light intervened, forced tea and ultimately ended the day when rain followed. Play was abandoned at 4.45pm.

Wharton’s fifty was his third in the Championship this season. He is a 25-year-old who Yorkshire think the world of. He toured Abu Dhabi with the Lions prior to the season, a tour which was curtailed because of the start of the war between the USA and Iran.

A good end to the summer could see him back in the Lions mix this winter. Converting this score into a century would be a good start.