County Championship Nottinghamshire v Yorkshire

County Championship Nottinghamshire v Yorkshire  at Trent Bridge September

Neil Whitaker reports

Day 1

ALL three of Nottinghamshire’s new signings came to the party on the first day of their clash with Yorkshire at Trent Bridge but the Tykes fought back well with the new ball before bad light stopped play two overs early.

The trio scored 260 out of Nottinghamshire’s 332 four seven.  Ben Slater hit his first century since signing  for  them from neighbours Derbyshire, in his third match for Nottinghamshire, his 109 was his second century against Yorkshire this season, he also hit 109 against them at Derby in the Royal London cup at the end of May.

Slater said: “ I didn’t know that I scored 109 against them at Derby but that was a not out.  To hit my first century for Nottinghamshire feels a little bit surreal. It’s not sunk in yet, it will probably take a couple of days.”

It was odds on that former Yorkshire opener, Windies Kragg Brathwaite would get a big score against them.  In the two championship matches tha Brathwaite played for Yorkshire last season his highest score was 18.  In his two previous matches for Nottinghamshire his highest score was 60.  And new signing Ben Duckett hit 80 on his debut after leaving Northamptonshire

In overcast conditions Yorkshire decided not to have a toss and it seamed that Yorkshire would get an early breakthrough as both Brathwaite and Slater played and missed at Tim Bresnan and Jack Brooks. Slater said: “We struggled a bit in the first hour but we fought hard, played and missed a few times  but after that we got going and set it up for the rest of the lads.” Gradually the Nottinghamshire got the scoreboard moving by scampering quick singles.  Slater continued: “It was great batting with Brathwaite, he’s  so chilled out so I knew there weren’t going to be any quick singles.”

Yorkshire should have a got a breakthrough in the 10th over when Slater, on six, hooked a short ball from Brooks to Matthew Waite at square leg but he couldn’t hold on to it.   Slater added: “It was nice to get a. bit of luck, nice that I took my opportunity and to get a hundred is very special.”

After that life Slater raced ahead of Brathwaite until Brathwaite hit four fours off Waite.  The third of which brought up the fifty partnership with Slater, the second boundary took him past the highest score he made for Yorkshire last season.  Before that over Waite had only conceded nine runs in five over.

In the second hour of the morning session the pair found the boundary on a more regular basis and again Slater took over the lead.  Yorkshire could not stop  him scoring the boundaries while Brathwaite was more than happy to play second fiddle to him.

Slater clipped Bresnan off his legs to the square leg boundary to bring up his fifty off 89 balls with nine fours.  The former Derbyshireman Slater hit consecutive fours off two rank balls from Tom Poysden through extra cover to take him three from his century.

He brought up his century when he went down on one knee and smashed Poysden over long on. from 162 balls with 18 fours.  Slater added: “It was nice to get a full toss when I was on 99, I was really happy with that.”

The partnership  was broken when Brathwaite, who was looking good for his first century, was plum leg before to Waite when he was late on his shot

He played Mat Pillans  out to mid wicket for a single to bring up his second fifty for Nottinghamshire.  His fifty came from 116 balls and included 10 fours. 

Waite got his second wicket of the innings in his next over when Jake Libby missed a  straight ball and was leg before.  Four overs later Waite got his third wicket when  Slater was caught down the legside by Jonny Tattersall off Waite bowling round the wicket to give Waite his best Championship figures.  Slater said: “I was dissapointed to get out when I did.”

Duckett got off the mark when he slashed Pillens wide of Adam  Lyth at second slip to the third man boundary.  At tea his 24 runs all came in six boundaries.  His form continued after tea and Yorkshire were looking down the barrels of a gun.

A delicate late cut by Stephen Mullaney to the third man boundary brought up the fifty partnership with Duckett.  Two balls after dispatching the new ball to the mid wicket boundary Brooks had his revenge by squaring up Mullaney and knocking his off stump out of the ground.  With Duckett they added 87 in 23 overs.  Duckett was the next to go just as he was looking set to score a century on his debut, Bresnan angled one across him which he followed and Tattersall took a simple catch.

Tom Moores tried to drive but got an outside edge and Jeet Ravel at cover took a simple catch.  Waite should have had another wicket when Luke Wood on four clipped off his legs to Ravel at mid wicket but he couldn’t hold on to it.  Yorkshire did get Wood  when he edged a drive off Brooks to Tattersall.

Slater added: “Yorkshire did well to fight back with the new ball under the floodlights but hopefully if we can eke a few more runs tomorrow we’ll be in a good position.”

Lyth captained Yorkshire for the first time since he did the job in March 2009 in a 50 over competition in Abu Dhabi and became the fifth player to captain Yorkshire in the Championship this season following: Gary Ballance, Joe Root, Steven Patterson and David Willey. 

Willey who captained the side for the last two Specsavers County Championship matches had an injured back.  Matthew Waite replaced Willey in the attack, Raval came in for fellow New Zealander Kane Williamson, Jack Brooks replaced Jack Leaning, Matthew Fisher’s place went to new signing Mat Pillans, Josh Poysden came in for Josh Shaw and Tattersall regained his place behind the stumps instead of Andrew Hodd.  For Nottinghamshire new signing Duckett made his debut in place of Rikki Wessels and Luke Fletcher lost out to Mark Footitt.

Day 2

FORMER Yorkshire captain Gary Ballance hit his second century of the season since resigning the captaincy in May.

The century was Yorkshire’s first since Ballance hit 109 against Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl four matches ago.  When he came into bat the Yorkshire innings at 59 for two could have collapsed and been made to follow on, they may still do but the deficit would have been greater without his innings.

Ballance said: “It’s nice to get a hundred here at Trent Bridge, it’s one of my favourites grounds. I am delighted to a hundred, it’s been a tough past few weeks. It was nice to spend some time in the middle and hopefully it will give me confidence for the rest of the season.

We’ve had a pretty good day and we’ve applied ourselves with the bat. Today there wasn’t as much movement as yesterday. I thought both Harry Brook and Tom Kohler-Cadmore both batted nicely. Hopefully tomorrow he can kick on.  We’ve got to win the first hour hour tomorrow and see where that takes us.”

He had no time for nerves in the nineties as he raced through them with consecutive fours off Matt Milnes.   The first through extra cover and the second through deep mid wicket.  He reached his ton with a leg glance off Matt  Milnes for a single.  His second fifty came from 80 balls.

When he pushed forward at Samit Patel and got an inside edge to Ben Slater at short leg.  His disappointment at getting was clear for all to see as he simply just stood there.

Ballance made Nottinghamshire pay for stumper Tom Moores grasping a chance he gave when he was on 35.  He glanced Milnes inches wide of Moores and the ball ran to the boundary.  To rub salt in the Nottinghamshire wounds  he hit consecutive boundaries of Milnes to bring up the fifty partnership with Brook.  Ballance dominated the partnership with Brook, out of  the 53 partnership Brook only scored 10.   In the next over Ballance late cut Harry Gurney to the boundary to bring up his  fifty off 44 balls with 11 fours.

While the runs flowed for Ballance, the runs for his partner Brook drilled up.  As a result he must have convinced himself when the chance came to dominate spin and in Patel’s second he chipped Patel to Luke Wood at mid wicket.  As he left the pitch Brook was so frustrated that he  thumped his bat into his pads. Earlier in the Yorkshire innings Notts skipper  Steve Mullaney persisted  with having two short mid wickets for Brook when facing the pace of Mark Footitt.  

Nottinghamshire must have seen the wicket of Brook as another chance to burst open the Yorkshire but after a nervous start Kohler-Cadmore grew in confidence and the runs came.  He became the fifth player in the match to reach fifty when he drove Gurney to the extra cover boundary. 

Patel started the day needing another 120 runs for 12,000 first class runs and after a strong shout for leg before from Tim Bresnan, Patel rattled the next two balls to the boundary like a man possessed to get to 12,000. Patel reached his fifty when he dispatched a short ball from Josh Poysden to the mid wicket boundary. Two balls later Poysden dragged down his googly and Patel pulled it straight to Jack Brooks on the fine leg boundary.  The delivery was so bad that Poysden didn’t even celebrate.

But the partnership between Patel and Milnes was dominated by Milnes. A drive through extra cover from Miles off Brooks brought up the fifty partnership with Patel.  They eventually added  90 in 20 overs before Milnes fell seven runs short off 50 when he was leg before to a straight ball from Poysden.

After hitting a couple of extravagant fours Gurney tried for another but sliced it to Jeet Ravel on the point boundary.

Yorkshire had 19 minutes to bat before lunch but they  lost their first wicket  to the last ball of the first over of their reply when Adam  Lyth edged an expansive drive off Footitt to Wood at gully.

Footitt  looked the fastest of all the bowlers on show in this match with his left arm over the wicket and his slinging action Mullaney set fielders in the deep for a hook. Gurney wasn’t introduced into the attack until the 14th over and he struck with his fourth ball.  Ravel half heartedly pushed forward at him and he he lost his middle and off stump.

Day 3

ONLY 33 overs were possible on the third day before the rain came down three overs after lunch.

Yorkshire managed to add 99 to their overnight score losing only Jonathan Tattersall in the penultimate over before lunch.  Tattersall and Tom Kohler-Cadmore added 102 for the fifth wicket in 37 overs before Tattersall edged Harry Gurney and stumper Tom Moores took a great low catch diving to his right in front of Kragg Brathwaite at first slip. Tattersall said: “I was disappointed to get out when I did but I was pleased to get some runs.”

Nottinghamshire had a couple of chances to get rid of Tattersall.  First, Nottinghamshire skipper Steven Mullaney dropped him when he was on 30.  Tattersall edged Luke  Wood and the ball flew to Mullaney at second slip at waist height.  He said: “To be fair it was there to be driven but I didn’t move my feet and it was great relief when he dropped it. At the end of the over Tom told me ‘not to worry about it.’ 

Tattersall had another slice of luck when he was on 38.  He sliced a drive off Mark Footitt and the ball flew to the third man boundary after Wood at gully could only get his fingertips to it. He added: “I got a feeling that if they pitched it up I was going to drive it and that it would take a pretty special catch to get get my out. I thought that it was a risk worth taking.  After that they pushed the field back a bit.”

Tattersall reached his second championship fifty when he turned the unlucky Wood off his legs but by by now his time at the crease was up.

Tattersall said: “It was nice to get a hundred partnership with Kohler-Cadmore which has put us in a good position and has nullified Nottinghamshire’s score. We need to get some more runs and try and get as many points as we can but we have to be careful going about it if we get rolled over quickly then the pressure is back on us.  If we can beat the teams around us we will survive.  We have not been at our best throughout the season.”

He added: “I think the Roses match next week is a massive match and we need to win it. It will be the first Championship Roses match that I’ve been involved in.  But we’re taking it day by day and session by session. We still have a game in hand on them.

I thought Kohler-Cadmore batted well.  It was not as free flowing as he would have liked but he showed what a great temperament he’s got.  If we had both fallen quickly this morning we would have in a tricky situation, but he deserves a hundred.

Tattersall who only started keeping for Yorkshire this season in the Royal London

One-day cup added: “It’s been a whirlwind of a season for me, at this time last season I didn’t think that I would be in the position that I am in now  It’s been a great journey that I have been on and there is still some cricket to play.  I have been told that next season I’ll be keeping wicket when Jonny Bairstow is playing for England.”

Day 4

IN the end it was the rain on the third day that lost 63 overs cost both teams any chance of victory but the pitch was the overall winner.

Yorkshire coach Andrew Gale said: “It was good to see our batsmen get the rewards for the effort that they put in.  It wasn’t. a great pitch to bowl on but it was a great one to bat on. Yesterday our batsmen got stuck in  and put us in the driving seat.  Matthew Waite got us the fifth batting point and we don’t know yet how important that point could be.  His bowling shows how much he has developed.

We take a lot of confidence into the Roses match next week at Emerald Headingley but it’s going to a  different challenge to this match. It’s a massive game next week. Lancashire are coming into full of confidence after winning a match and tieing their last game.  They are chasing their tail but if we perform well over a period of time we will the game.

I am pleased with the way the lads have performed in this match because the last few weeks have been difficult for them but the lads have now got a spring in their fleet.”

Yorkshire batted on and weren’t all out until the 10th over after lunch. Their  total was their highest since they made 557 for seven declared against Surrey at Emerald Headingley in 2016 and in doing so they reached 400 and gained five batting points for the first time this season.  

Tom Kohler-Cadmore hit his first  Championship century for the Tykes when he turned Harry Gurney off his legs to the fine leg boundary.  His heart  must have missed a beat when he edged  the third ball of the morning from Gurney but luckily for him it dropped short of Kraigg Brathwaite at first slip.

Needing seven off  the 110th over for a fifth bating point they nearly missed out.  Kohler-Cadmore backed away from Samit Patel to give him to hit a four to the short boundary but was bowled to became the first of Patel’s four victims on the final day. Gale added: “It would have been nice if Tom had got 150 plus but the point he got us could prove crucial in the end. I was really pleased for him and hopefully that will give him a lot of confidence as we go into the last few games.”

Yorkshire got their fifth batting point thanks to Waite who drove his first ball to the extra cover boundary and drilled the next ball to the long on boundary to get Yorkshire’s batting point.

Waite went down on one knee and deposited Patel over mid wicket and the shortest boundary into the Fox road stand for a six.  Two balls later he hit Patel over square for a flat six then he got a leading edge and the ball looped to Matt Milnes at short cover.  The 50 partnership between Waite and Tim Bresnan was brought up when Bresnan danced down the wicket to Jake Libby and drove him straight to the boundary. In the next over he cut Patel for a single to take Yorkshire into the lead.

Patel got his first five wicket haul in the Championship since July 2011, when he took seven for 68 against Hampshire at the Rose Bowl, when Mat Pillans played down the wrong line to him and was leg before. As Patel was about to come into bowl he was stopped by Nottinghamshire skipper Steven Mullaney who moved the field.

Patel took his 300th first-class wicket for Nottinghamshire when Jack Brooks pushed at and got an outside edge to Libby at silly point.

Bresnan was the last man out when he advanced down the wicket to Libby and drilled him to Mark Footitt at mid-on who took a good low catch as the ball just reached him to give Libby his first Championship wicket for Nottinghamshire.  On his way to 80 Bresnan became the seventh player in the match to reach fifty when he cut Footitt for a single.

A leg glance by Ben Slater off Pillans to the fine leg boundary took Nottinghamshire into the lead.  In the 13th over after tea with the match meandering to the close Slater was bowled round his legs by Josh Poysden.

SCORECARD

March 31, 2018 12:00 am

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