Lowly Leicestershire show the way at Grace Road

In reply, the Foxes closed on 177 for three at the close, trailing by eight runs after Rishi Patel made an assertive 67 and Rehan Ahmed impressed with an unbeaten 62. Slow left-armer Dan Moriarty took two of the wickets to fall on a pitch on which spin may play an increasing role.

Earlier, James Wharton had top-scored with 56 for Yorkshire, with Foxes skipper Ben Green taking three for 27, namesake Alex picking up his maiden Championship wickets and leg-spinner Rehan finishing the innings with two in two balls.

Conditions favoured seamers at the start of the day, on a pitch grassed in the middle and cut short at both sharply defined ends. Yorkshire chose to bat first but lost five wickets for 89 before lunch.

Wharton batted nicely, playing some pleasing shots through the off side in particular, but others perished at regular intervals.

Will Luxton, who arrived in fine form, was trapped on the crease by Ben Green, who also removed his opening partner, Adam Lyth, via a feathered edge in a 10-over spell that yielded two for 23. Josh Davey took a good, low catch when Sam Whiteman chipped back down the pitch.

Matthew Revis nicked behind as 19-year-old Alex Green celebrated his first first-class wicket in his third appearance before on-loan Joey Evison finished the session with an excellent ball to take Jonny Bairstow’s off stump, after the Yorkshire captain had helped Wharton add 43.

Wharton looked relatively comfortable, tucking away his eighth boundary to complete a 106-ball half-century, his second of the season, but he couldn’t progress much beyond it, nibbling at a ball that surprised him with extra bounce.

He had added 42 with George Hill, who promptly lost another partner when Dom Bess, having confidently sent his first two balls faced to the boundary, was bowled off an inside edge.

Hassan Ali attacked, picking up four quick boundaries to keep the scoreboard moving, but the innings fell away rapidly, the last three wickets disappearing in the space of six balls as spin played its part.

Hill, who struck seven boundaries, departed when Ben Cox made his fourth catch behind the stumps to remove him via a thin edge off left-armer Ajaz Patel before Rehan Ahmed finished off by dismissing Hassan Ali and Jack White with the last two balls of the innings.

If Yorkshire’s batters had found the pitch challenging, it did not noticeably inhibit their Leicestershire counterparts, not Rishi Patel and Rehan at any rate.

Patel had some luck. On 30, he fell into a trap by hooking a short delivery by Hassan but Jack White, who had been moved to fine leg for that eventuality, dropped the chance.

Having pinged White over the legside boundary for six in the previous over, Patel raced to fifty from 49 balls. He had lost his opening partner when Hassan dismissed the more tentative Sheridon Gumbs leg before offering no shot but Rehan was more attuned to Patel’s tempo as Yorkshire struggled to deny them boundaries.

They had added 96 at a run-a-ball when left-arm spinner Dan Moriarty, who had taken some punishment from Rehan, changed his angle enough to beat Patel’s advance down the pitch and allow Jonny Bairstow to make a stumping.

Moriarty struck again in a spell that improved with age, bowling Lewis Hill off his pads, but Rehan and Nick Kelly guided Leicestershire to the close with no further alarms.

Leicestershire’s Alex Green said: “Today's been a real good day for us. We started off really well with the ball, everyone chipped in, we all took wickets, with Rehan and Ajaz finishing it off quite nicely.

“Then Rishi and Rehan both batted really nicely. Unfortunately, Rishi couldn't push on, but he really did start us off well. Hopefully, Rehan and Nick can keep going in the morning.

“We worked together as a team, bowling in pairs as well. That's really our standard as a bowling group and hopefully we bring that in the second innings and in future games to come as well.

“I think what we've done is we've taken the positives from the games we have played, because although we have not always got the results we have wanted we have had good, really good spells, really good sessions in the games we have played. So it was a case of looking at what we did well and figuring out how we can do that for longer.

“For me personally, getting that maiden first-class wicket was special. I've been fortunate enough to play in the other two formats and get wickets but that first wicket in the first-class game was what I was really, really looking for. I’m chuffed to bits to have done it and it will give me a lot of confidence going forward.”

Yorkshire’s James Wharton said: “It's obviously not an ideal situation that we find ourselves in, but it's obviously only the end of day one, so there's three more days of cricket ahead of us. We’ve just got to look to tomorrow and take some quick wickets.

“So, yes, we saw a bit of seam movement but from my point of view, I'm so frustrated because me and Hilly were starting to build, the pressure was back on them a little bit. And I just got out, the softest dismissal to a ball should not be getting me out.

“It’s a back-of-length, widish ball that I could just let through to the keeper all day long, or just defend. I was thinking about pulling out and then just left the bat hanging out there, basically.

“It was an interesting looking wicket. There is a bit of seam movement, a little bit up and down, not a lot of turn. It looks visually a bit different, but overall it's pretty stock, nothing out of the ordinary really in terms of what we’ve played on this year.

“I wasn’t part of the discussion about whether we batted first but we think it's going to turn as the game goes on, and if it opens up and cracks appear, then that brings our spinners into play, We’d back ourselves to out-bowl them so I think that's probably the rationale behind it.”