Yorkshire Day did not exactly turn out to be Yorkshire's day at Cheltenham yesterday but it was a memorable one for Gavin Hamilton, who was playing in his first Championship match for almost 14 months.

A complete breakdown in his confidence as a bowler means that Hamilton is trying to re-fashion his career solely as a batsman. And he celebrated his return to first class cricket with an innings of 68, which helped Yorkshire recover some of their poise after being 16 for three when he arrived at the crease.

But how Hamilton managed to survive his first few overs is one of life's great mysteries because he was in every conceivable sort of trouble against the pace of Dewsbury-born Mike Smith and James Averis.

The first three balls he faced from Averis all brought raucous appeals for lbw. All were rejected by umpire Neil Mallender but the first one, particularly, when Hamilton offered no stroke, must have been perilously close.

Hamilton eventually notched his first run before surviving a loud shout for a catch behind off Averis and Gloucestershire then went up for a bat and pad catch off the next ball. But once again Mallender was not interested.

The left-hander played and missed on several occasions before settling down when the spinners came on, although he had an escape on 37 when substitute Chris Taylor tried three or four times without success to hold on at short leg.

For part of the time, Taylor was on for Tim Hancock, who was stung on the neck shortly before lunch. But he returned later in the day and even took a stinging catch himself at mid-off to dismiss Chris Silverwood.

Having eased Yorkshire past the 114 they required to avoid the follow-on, Hamilton began to look capable of going on to only the second Championship century of his career.

But after receiving 159 balls and hitting eight fours he failed to keep down an on-drive at off-spinner Shoaib Malik and was promptly caught by Alex Gidman.

At the fall of Hamilton's wicket, Yorkshire had recovered to 175 for six and they went on to reach 226, which left Gloucestershire to start their second innings today with a lead of 37.

A total of 153 overs had already been lost over the first two days when Gloucestershire resumed in the morning on 201 for six with the uncapped Richard Dawson leading Yorkshire on to the field in the absence of Matthew Wood, who had returned to Huddersfield for a family funeral before making it back to Cheltenham by the tea interval.

Although Yorkshire had New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming in their side, coach Kevin Sharp said the whole team were in favour of Dawson doing the job because of his tactical awareness and the experience he had gained during his seven Test appearances for England.

In between another break for rain, Steven Kirby claimed three of the last four wickets to fall to give him 42 dismissals and his second best figures this season of six for 101.

Yorkshire's hopes of rattling up 400-plus and then running through Gloucestershire quickly evaporated as openers Craig White and Fleming were both caught by Jack Russell off Smith and Vic Craven fell lbw to Averis.

But in came Hamilton to put on invaluable 91 in 26 overs with Michael Lumb and when they had gone Wood was back in his whites and able to support the tail, making an unbeaten 15 while the last four wickets fell.