The hawthorns are flowering and the Swift returning early, too, but one spring staple of recent years was reassuringly in place yesterday morning: the Yorkshire collapse.

From 69 for one in the 22nd over, Yorkshire lost three wickets for four runs in 11 balls and it took a South Africa quasi-Kolpak player to rescue them with a maiden hundred on his championship debut for the county. Jacques Rudolph, the 25-year-old left-hander, found a fine partner in Adil Rashid, who made 86, his highest first-class score, and looks a genuine all-rounder. They put on 190 in 42 overs to save Yorkshire after they had elected to bat.

Rashid was lucky to be there after Azhar Mahmood, who took 48 wickets at 14.58 for Islamabad this winter, seemed to have him leg-before on nought. Two balls later, Rashid edged a drive off Azhar’s dangerous away swing to Scott Newman at second slip, but the ball burst through his hands. Azhar eventually had Rashid playing on to the second new ball and Rudolph perished in the next over, driving tamely to extra cover.

Rudolph was just one of Yorkshire’s several scandals in the winter, but the only one with repercussions for English cricket. Yorkshire say that they have pulled off a coup by persuading Rudolph to abandon his international career and sign a three-year contract. But this is an unlikely scenario given that Rudolph played a Test against Sri Lanka in August. Kolpak players are not supposed to have played international cricket for 12 months, but all the counties know that this is not enforceable under European employment law.

A whole season of yesterday’s batting and he will be recalled by South Africa. He took particularly to the spinners, lifting Nayan Doshi for two sixes to wide long-on. Both he and Rashid were even more severe on Chris Schofield’s leg breaks.

Rikki Clarke, captaining in the absence of Mark Butcher, who had dropped out late with a groin strain, again hinted at being a fine England all-rounder. He brought himself on and his first hostile spell of 6-3-14-2 played a big part in the collapse as Joe Sayers edged a lifting ball behind and Younis Khan, the Pakistan batsman, played on.

Steve Magoffin, the tall Queenslander, quickly found his length, but he looked a touch lucky to have Gerard Brophy leg-before to a ball that might have gone over.