Neil Whitaker reports
Yorkshire beat Warwickshire by 6 wickets
YORKSHIRE opener Adam Lyth became the first player to reach 1000 first class runs this season on the opening day of LV County Championship match against Warwickshire at Headingley Carnegie.
Lyth reached the 18 needed for the milestone when he drove Neil Carter delightfully through the covers for four. Six runs earlier, Lyth survived an appeal for caught behind off Carter. He went on to make 84 from 152 balls in 187 minutes before he became Carter’s third victim, when he was leg before to Carter. In Carter’s previous over Lyth was dropped by Darren Maddy at first slip off Rikki Clarke on 81.
Adam 22, started playing cricket as a youngster said: “I played at Whitby when I was five or six but I now play all my cricket for Scarborough. I am over the moon to be the first in the country it’s fantastic, hopefully there’s more to come, it was nice to get the 18 I needed but I’ll take 84 at the end of the day. I am now aiming for 1600 runs. It was tough, they bowled well after lunch. The wicket is not as flat as ones we’ve played on. Me and Mags put on a good partnership.”
Last season his first team opportunities were limited as Yorkshire played Michael Vaughan as the former England skipper tried to play his way back into the England side, Adam said: “I didn’t get a chance last year to play first team cricket but Andrew Gale(Yorkshire captain) has given me confidence to play my natural game. He wants us to play attacking and aggressive cricket and we all want to do well for him.”
This season Adam has moved from the middle order to opening the batting. He said: “In the winter Gale’y asked me if I wanted to open the innings because Jacques Rudolph wants to bat at four but I am not bothered where I bat as long as I am in the team.
Adam who is seen by many as a favourite to play for England on one of the tours this winter added: “If I keep doing well there might be a chance to play for England but I just want to play and do well for Yorkshire.”
Lath and Anthony McGrath put on 98 in 40 over’s for the second wicket before McGrath edged Carter to Middy at first slip who gratefully took the catch. He had made 57 from 122 minutes off 72 balls with seven fours. It was his tenth 50 out of 11 championship innings the season. Earlier he had survived a run out, a leg before shout and was dropped on 41 by Clarke at second slip off Staff Piglet when and the ball ran for a four.
The departure of Lath brought together Gerard Trophy and Jonny Barstow. They eased themselves into a partnership of 100 in 35 overs. Bairstow made 44 and looking good for a big score when he was leg before to f Piolet for 44. Piolet’s first championship wicket, he should have had his second two balls later but he dropped a return catch from Adil Rashid.
Brophy and Rashid saw Yorkshire to the close adding for the fifth wicket as they ended the day on 325 for with Brophy 92 not out and Rashid unbeaten on 29.
YORKSHIRE wicket keeper Gerard Brophy hit 103, his best score for the Tykes to help them reach 425 in their first innings against Warwickshire at Headingley Carnegie,day2.
Brophy steered Neil Carter through third man for a four to bring up his second Championship century for Yorkshire, his first at Headingley Carnegie and his first since 2007. His century came from 168 balls and he hit 15 fours. He only faced another seven balls when he cut Rikki Clarke straight to Ant Botha at point at waist height for an easy catch which stunned the crowd into silence.
Afterwards Brophy said: “When I got in it was quite important that we created a partnership. I am pleased that we got 425.”
For the last two matches Gerard has batted at five while Jonny Bairstow has batted at number four and it makes the batting look fragile if the openers fail. Gerard added: “I’ve batted at five, four or five times and always done well. It does look like we are a batter short but it helps me to get my head down. I feel that there’s always room for another batter. It was frustrating to get out quite early. I’ve never scored a hundred before at Headingley.”
Gerard has only started two championship matches this season because at the start of the season skipper Andrew Gale preferred to have Jonny Bairstow behind the stumps. Gerard added: “It’s tough being left out of the team and I felt hard done by but I got my opportunities and I am pleased with my performance.”
Six overs after the departure of Brophy, Azeem Rafiq steered Clarke to Stef Piolet at point for 12. Inside the first hour Yorkshire had lost three wickets for 44 runs.
Resuming on 325 for four, Yorkshire lost Adil Rashid to the second ball of the day when he was leg before to Carter for 29. Steve Patterson and Richard Pyrah had added 45 for the eighth wicket when Patterson steered Imran Tahir to short third man and set off for a single, but he was beaten by Piolet’s direct hit at the bowlers end. In the second over after lunch Tino Best had a wild slog at Boyd Rankin and was caught in the gully by Piolet for two. Last man Oliver Hannon-Dalby pushed forward at Tahir and was caught at short leg by Ian Westwood for a duck and Yorkshire were all out for 425. Pyrah was unbeaten on 45 despite feeling unwell for the majority of his innings. For Warwickshire Carter took four wickets for 87.
In their reply Warwickshire produced their best opening partnership of the season so far as they raced to 80 in 19 overs with opener Westwood getting his fifty from 51 balls with nine fours. The partnership was broken when Hannon-Dalby had Darren Maddy leg before for 35 with the score on 102.
The Bears lost their second wicket in the next over when Westwood was adjudged lb to Rashid for 66 from 95 balls in 114 minutes with 11 fours.
Jim Troughton and Ant Botha took the score to 148, then they lost three wickets in 10 balls. First, Troughton was caught at short leg by Adam Lyth off Rashid for 22. Ateeq Javid followed him back to the hutch when he was leg before to Patterson for one. In Rashid’s next over Botha was caught at short leg by Lyth for 19. Every delivery was now looking a wicket taking delivery as Warwickshire went from 148 for two to 153 for five. They had lost three wickets in three overs for only five runs.
Five overs after a stoppage for rain, Tim Ambrose was comprehensively bowled by Best for 30. Rashid tried to York Piolet but the ball hit him on his foot and he was leg before for six.
RIKKI Clarke hit an unbeaten 51 from 116 balls with four fours and two sixes in 149 minutes as Warwickshire fought back in their second innings against Yorkshire after being told to follow on and ended day three on 193 for three, a lead of 21,day3.
Play on the third day started 15 minutes late because of rain with the overnight batsmen of Clarke and Neil Carter. When Carter was on 13, he gave a chance to Adam Lyth at short leg off Adil Rashid but Lyth couldn’t hold on to ball but he knocked it up but it dropped short off Anthony McGrath at leg slip. Three overs later, after adding another two to his score, Carter drove Steve Patterson straight to Tino Best at mid off who took a comfortable catch.
Jonny Bairstow dropped a straight forward chance at mid wicket when he put Clarke down mid wicket on off Rashid when he had scored 36. In the next over Richard Pyrah took a brilliant one handed catch at to dismiss Imran Tahir for one off Patterson.
The innings was wrapped up when Patterson trapped Boyd Rankin leg before with the last of the first over with the new ball without scoring. Clarke was 46 not out and Warwickshire were out for 253, 172 behind Yorkshire.
Yorkshire enforced the follow on and nearly had a breakthrough in the third over but Ian Westwood was dropped by Rashid at second slip off Oliver Hannon-Dalby. The Tykes brought on the spinners as early as the seventh over and in the ninth, Darren Maddy advanced down the wicket to Rashid and played around a googly and was comprehensively bowled for 16.
Westwood and Ant Botha added 56 for the second wicket in 16 overs but an hour after lunch Botha edged Rashid to stumper Gerard Brophy who took a low catch for 24. Warwickshire promoted Clarke to number four to combat the spin threat of Rashid and Azeem Rafiq by having a left hander and a right hander in together.
In Rashid’s next over he forced Westwood on to the back foot and the opener was leg before for 42. This brought in Jim Troughton who with Clarke put on 46 for the third wicket then he ducked into a short ball from Best which forced him to retire hurt on 17. Later he went to hospital with a cut eye but is expected to bat again.
Ateeq Javeed, who is making his championship debut, had to come and face an hostile Best and the Warwickshire innings on the edge of collapse. He and Clarke played with caution and dispatched the bad ball when it was needed. When rain ended play the day Javeed had made 37 not out.
JACQUES Rudolph won his first match in 11 attempts as Yorkshire skipper as the Tykes beat Warwickshire by six wickets in a thrilling final day at Headingley Carnegie to go 21 points clear at the top of Division One of the LV County Championship.
Rudolph said: “It’s been a long time in coming, but the way the guys are playing is showing a lot of maturity. It was an unbelievable finish. If you look back on the games we have played and the teams have chased down a massive total, the fielding side starts to panic and we knew that the partnership with Bairstow helped us.”
Chasing 200 to win in a minimum 37overs. They got home with 14 balls to spare as Rudolph got 80 and Jonny Bairstow hit an unbeaten 64 from 61 balls. Bairstow hit the winning runs with a boundary through mid wicket of Imran Tahir as he shared in a fifth wicket partnership of 39 with Adil Rashid.
Bairstow said: “We have done well in this match, to get the win and to go 21 points clear of Nottinghamshire and we have two games to play against them. People were doubting us before the season but we have proved that we have the desire and hunger to win games. We have bounced back after the disappointment of last week and got the win here.”
He added: “Jacques played outstandingly well and Gerard played extremely well. I am pleased for all the boys for their hard work in the four days. The bowlers did well on a flat wicket. The guys are on top of the world. Every game is key to winning the championship even a session. If we lose or even win it, it could decide the championship.
Yorkshire started the final hour needing 111 with eight wickets left. Rudolph nearly gave a chance on when 58 he drove Tahir just out of the reach of Ian Westwood at deep mid off. He was eventually out when he leg glanced Steff Piolet to Boyd Rankin at fine leg and tried to get two runs but Rudolph couldn’t beat the throw and was run out for 80 from 91 balls
Gerard Brophy came in at the fall of Rudolph’s wicket and hit a quick 14 in a partnership of 34 in four overs with Bairstow before Brophy was bowled round his legs by Tahir.
Yorkshire lost their first wicket in their run chase in the second over when Adam Lyth slashed Rankin to Rikki Clarke at second slip on one. Ten overs later Anthony McGrath was plum leg before to Rankin for 15.
Clarke hit a brilliant unbeaten 127 to give Warwickshire a scent of victory. His highest score for Warwickshire as they were dismissed for 371, setting Yorkshire 200 to win in a minimum 37 overs. Clarke had batted for a minute over six hours faced 256 balls, hit three sixes and eight fours. In the first innings Clarke scored an unbeaten 46 in 136 minutes from 112 balls with seven fours, so in the match he batted for eight hours and 16 minutes without being dismissed.
He brought up his century when he drove Tino Best straight for a four. His hundred came in 329 minutes from 235 balls with six fours and two sixes. Clarke could easily been out in the first over of the day but survived an leg before appeal on the second ball of the day from Rashid and went on to share two partnerships of over 40 which enabled Warwickshire to be still in the match at tea. First with Ateeq Javeed they added a valuable 81 in two hours.
Bairstow added: “I thought Rikki Clarke played outstandingly well but we managed to do enough to get the wickets.
Yorkshire finally got a breakthrough after 29 minutes on the final morning when Javeed edged Rashid to Brophy. The youngster had made 48 in two hours from 122 balls.
Then he put on a vital 75 in 17 overs with Tahir. Tahir hit five fours and a six in his 41 in just under a run a ball, which was his best score so far this season. In the next over Clarke hit Rashid through the covers and set off and called for two but Rankin could not beat Richard Pyrah’s throw and was run out for a duck. Jim Troughton came out to prolong the Warwickshire but couldn’t add to his score of 17.
Earlier, Tim Ambrose lasted 37 minutes and made 16 before he lost his off stump to Pyre in the third over with the new ball. Piglet faced 23 balls then he was trapped leg before to Patterson for four. Neil Carter became Rashid’s fifth victim when he went leg before to one that kept low. His 21 took him 46 minutes.
In the first hour Best bowled well without any luck in the first half hour, on a couple of occasions he got his Yorker working but the batsmen managed to dig them out, Jived on 47 turned him to short mid wicket but the ball fell short of Bairstow.
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