County Championship Notts v Yorkshire September 21-24 at Trent Bridge
Neil Whitaker reports
Day 1 NOTTINGHAMSHIRE’s Joe Clarke hit 109 his highest score of the season beating the 66 he made against Derbyshire at Derby in May. He brought his century up with a six when he pulled Ben Coad over square leg. His century came from 194 balls with 14 fours and that six in 251 minutes. As he guided Nottinghamshire to two batting bonus points in a match which Nottinghamshire must win to have a chance of winning the LV County Championship. If the LV County Championship goes to either of Hampshire, Lancashire or Warwickshire a win in this match could still see Nottinghamshire go to Lord’s for the Bob Willis trophy match as runners up. He said: “For me there’s a bit of relief in getting a hundred because I’ve had a few starts this year, a few fifties, so it is nice to convert one. There’s been a few jokes about me not being able to convert and I think the lads are pleased for me to do it this time. From a team point of view, we know we are just a few runs short of another point that could be potentially crucial at the end of these four days, so that’s what we’ll be looking to tick off in the morning. But in the context of the game we feel we have got more than par on that wicket at the moment. It is one where if the bowler lands it in the right place it does a bit and I think our seamers will enjoy bowling on it tomorrow.” Clarke came into bat when Nottinghamshire had lost both their openers in three balls for less than 50. Put into bat under the clouds and on a green pitch Haseeb Hameed clipped Matthew Fisher beautifully off his legs to the square leg boundary but four balls later he top edged a cut to Harry Duke. The first of Duke’s six catches in the day. Three balls later his opening partner Ben Slater was joining him in the hutch when Slater pushed at George Hill without moving his feet and edged him to Duke. Clarke’s innings wasn't a chanceless, Yorkshire should have got rid of him on 59 when he edged Coad but Adam Lyth at second slip moving to his left fumbled the easy catch. He was lucky on 79, that Jordan Thompson couldn’t find the edge of his bat after Clarke in Thompson’s previous over had thick edged him to the third man boundary. On 89 he played back to Dom Bess and again Lyth, this time at first slip, put down the regulation catch at waiste height and couldn’t grab it at the second attempt. Before the drop he had sliced an off drive off Bess to the cover boundary. Eventually Yorkshire got him with just over seven overs left in the day when he played Coad away from his body and Lyth made up for dropping him twice took the low catch moving to his left with both hands. Coad said: “The slips have been brilliant all year and nobody drops catches on purpose.” Clarke started the afternoon session by driving Fisher of the back foot to the extra cover boundary. He reached his fifty which came off 96 balls and included nine fours when he clipped Thompson off his legs to the third man boundary. When Nottinghamshire lost Hameed and Slater the home fans could still look to Ben Duckett with Clarke to build a decent first innings total but five overs before lunch Yorkshire got their third wicket of the morning when Duckett edged a drive off Hill to Bess at backward point. The main partnership of the innings was for the seventh wicket between Clarke and Joyey Evison. Evison was not backward at putting bat to ball he flashed hard at Thompson through the slips and got four runs. He drove Bess over extra cover for a six and brought up the 50 partnership with Clarke which came off 110 with a drive to the extra cover boundary. He drove Fisher inches above Will Fraine’s outstretched hand at cover and ran to the boundary. After 99 minutes he reached his 50 when he guided Matt Revis through the slip cordon to the third man boundary for his seventh four in 97 balls and that six. Nottinghamshire captain Steven Mullaney batted as he can adding 49 with Clarke. He took the attack to Yorkshire, he drove Hill to the extra cover boundary followed by a cut to the point boundary. The partnership was broken when Mullaney was beaten by one that Coad got to seam away from and taking his edge to Duke. Tom Moores got off the mark when he tickled Fisher off his legs to the fine leg boundary. He became Duke’s fourth victim of the innings when he pushed at one away from his body. Duke got his fifth catch when Liam Patterson-White edged a straight ball from Coad bowling round the wicket. Brett Hutton undereged Revis and Duke took his sixth catch after confirmation from square leg umpire Rob Bailey that it had carried Hutton walked. After getting off the mark by clipping Revis off his legs with a four, Luke Fletcher hit a forehand volley with no pace on it to Thompson at cover. Yorkshire’s captain for the match Coad said: “There’s no reason why we can’t match their score. The lads have done a good job today they keep proving themselves. And we’ll come back tomorrow and get it right.” He added: “It’s a great honour to be captain of a great club. I was told this morning that I would be captain. It was challenging but I’ve had a bit of experience, captaining the second team. I felt like I wanted to do everything but there’s a lot of other people who I can tap into.” Yorkshire made three changes from the side that were heavily beaten by Warwickshire: captain Steve Patterson hadn’t recovered from an injury and was replaced by Revis and Coad became Yorkshire’s eighth captain of the season in all forms of cricket. Tom Kohler-Cadmore played instead of Dawid Malan and Fraine came in for Gary Ballance. Nottinghamshire were unchanged from the side that lost to Hampshire. Day 2 YORKSHIRE battled back in their second innings to end the second day 54 behind with seven second innings wickets left The excitement of dismissing Yorkshire may have clouded Steven Mullaney’s decision to enforce a follow on when a cool head would have batted again and batted Yorkshire out of the game. Nottinghamshire could have batted for the rest of Wednesday and declared halfway through the morning session on Thursday morning leaving Yorkshire to bat for 5 ½ sessions to save the match. Following on 223 behind the Yorkshire openers Adam Lyth and George Hill made a much better fist of it second time around. Hill turned Joyey Evison off hips to the mid wicket boundary to bring up their 50 partnership off 102 balls. They added another 15 when Lyth dabbed Mullaney out into the covers and set off for a single. Hill responded but was always struggling and was easily run out by substitute Calvin Harrison’s direct hit from cover. Lyth nearly had his head knocked off when a delivery from Luke Fletcher rose viciously off a length at him. Tom Kohler-Cadmore pulled Mullaney to the mid wicket boundary while Joe Clarke on the square leg boundary must have been blinded by the sun because he had no idea where the ball had gone. Lyth brought up the 50 partnership, which came off 140 balls between him and Kohler-Cadmore, with an off drive to the long off boundary off Brett Hutton. He reached his 50 when he gently placed the next ball to the third man boundary. The left hander also brought up their hundred partnership from 227 balls when he clipped Dane Paterson off his legs to the mid wicket boundary. Their partnership was broken when Kohler-Cadmore played back to Liam Patterson-White with 10 balls left in the day. Night watchman Matt Fisher did his job in protecting Will Fraine from facing but on his fifth ball he was leg before to Paterson when he missed a straight ball. First X1 coach Andrew Gale said: “ Lyth batted well after his bad run and he wasn’t going to play in this game and only played because of Gary Ballance’s withdrawal. He’s had a tough time, he wasn’t getting the runs he would have liked after he was mentioned to get an England recall.” Yorkshire’s first innings was as good as over before lunch. For the third consecutive innings Yorkshire were dismissed in less than 50 overs, today their innings was completed in less than 30 overs. Doing the early damage for Nottinghamshire was Luke Fletcher with three wickets for 31 and wrapping the innings up were Evison,who looks like a future England player, with four for 13 and Dane Paterson took two for 11. Evison said: “It was a real hard-fought day. It was a shame not to get that last batting point but the way we bowled this morning was outstanding. They batted really well late on, so it has been a day of contrasts. It is a mental battle when you enforce the follow-on and Yorkshire dug in and batted really well, but Patterson-White came on and bowled well and those last two wickets gave us a real lift after we had gone a bit flat. I felt in a good rhythm in the first innings, although I lost it a bit in the second innings, when I was bowling a bit too short. Every bowler must have bowled 17 or 18 overs in the day, so we’ll rest up ready for tomorrow and take it from there.” Gale added: “I was very disappointed with the first session and we didn’t do ourselves justice. Once again we didn’t get first innings runs but they are players who can do it. I told the players that they have to battle harder in the second innings, I don’t want to lose to Nottinghamshire by an innings. It’s just a shame that we lost those two late wickets. If we do lose,I want to make it hard for them to win.” Fletcher dismissed Hill and Kohler-Cadmore with consecutive balls to get on a hat trick. His first victim was Hill in the third over when he angled his bat and Fletcher took the face of his bat to Haseeb Hameed at third slip who took a low catch diving to his left. Kohler-Cadmore played down the wrong line and lost his off stump. Fletcher worked the crowd for his hat trick ball but direction to Fraine was wrong, down the legside. Lyth and Fraine stuck together for 16 overs despite having some sticky moments against Fletcher and Hutton. It was Hutton who got Nottinghamshire’s first bowling point when Lyth offered no shot to him and umpire Rob Bailey adjudged he was leg before with the ball hitting middle and off. Fletcher’s third victim of the morning was Fraine who pushed at him and edged it to Moores. Things went from bad to worse for Yorkshire when Evison’s second ball hit Yorkshire’s top scorer Jordan Thompson on his boot giving umpire Richard Kettleborough an easy decision to make. Two balls later Matt Revis was squared up as he tried to turn Evison to leg but the bowler took his outside edge and Hutton at first slip took a low catch moving to his right. Surely Harry Brook and Dom Bess had the know-how to get Yorkshire to three figures at least. But they only added 15 when Brook had a wild swing at Evison and gave Tom Moores an easy catch. He made 12 just as Fraine did and Bess was to make before he was ninth out when he tried to uppercut Evison but top edged it to Hutton at first slip who took the catch in front of his face. Yorkshire added three to the total then Paterson got in on the wicket taking act. He got his first wicket when he smashed Duke’s off and middle and off stumps out of the ground. 21 minutes after lunch the Yorkshire innings was over when Matt Fisher timidly pushed at Paterson and edged him to Moores who took a tumbling catch to his right in front of the slips. Nottinghamshire lost their first innings wicket to the ninth ball of the day when Evison tried to work Thompson to leg and was leg before without adding to his overnight score. The only runs that Nottinghamshire scored came in the first over when Paterson clipped Ben Coad off his legs to the mid wicket boundary. Peter Trego who last week announced his retirement from cricket came on as a substitute fielder for the final moments of the morning session and received a standing ovation when he left the field at lunchtime. Day 3 ADAM Lyth hit 153, his highest Championship score since 2016 when he hit 202 against Surrey at the Oval as he ensured that Nottinghamshire would have to get a fourth innings score beyond 125. It wasn’t a fluent innings but it was one that he was prepared to graft for by nudging and nurdling the ball past the fielders, with of course the odd hiccup. On 76 Luke Fletcher took the shoulder of his bat and the ball went inches wide off the diving Ben Duckett at second slip and ran to third man boundary. He said: “I was absolutely delighted with the way I played yesterday and today. I thought it was one of my best hundreds for Yorkshire under the circumstances of being asked to follow on which I was surprised they did. I am pleased to finish off the season with 150 because the last couple of months things haven’t gone well for me. Before the game I knew I wasn’t going to play until Gary Ballance became ill, in the first innings I simply misjudged the ball. Getting Haseeb tonight was crucial and it would have been nice to get a couple more. Their bowling was relentless at the top of off stump. It wasn’t a 73 all out wicket and if we had posted 150 or190 we would have been in with a shout of getting whatever they set us.” Nottinghamshire’s assistant head coach Paul Franks said: “We’ve given ourselves an opportunity to win, which is what we wanted. We knew we had to take care of our business and we fully expected Yorkshire to bounce back after what was a tough first innings for them. We were excellent in their first innings and managed to get ourselves in the ascendancy in the game. It was agonising not to get that extra bonus point after a decision that on another day maybe goes your way but that is the game we play unfortunately. The players have handled that really well and the mood in the camp is strong. Beating Yorkshire is always a benchmark and we have a chance to get into the Bob Willis Trophy Final and so it is a game we want to win. The response from Lyth today, with his experience and quality, gave them a platform to get back into the game but it was a good 45 minutes from us tonight to put us in a good position in the morning. You can lose a lot quite quickly in sessions like that.” As Yorkshire neared 300 Lyth guided Liam Patterson-White off Steven Mullaney at slip to the third man boundary. He reached his 150 when he straight drove Joyey Evison’s first ball after tea to the long off boundary. His 150 came from 371 balls in 493 minutes and included 20 fours. When he was out he couldn’t believe what he had done and just stood looking at the turf. He was squared up by Evison who took the shoulder of his bat to Tom Moores. Lyth completed his first Championship century since he hit 116 in the second innings against Kent at Canterbury in the second match of the season in April just before lunch. He reached it when he chopped Mullaney into the covers for a couple. He clipped Evison his toes to the square leg boundary in the first over after lunch and finished the over with a drive long off boundary. In the afternoon sun he drove Evison to the extra cover boundary. He found valuable support from Harry Brook and Jordan Thompson as they avoided a heavy defeat. Brook’s 92 minute resistance ended tamely when he edged Dane Paterson away from his body to Brett Hutton at first slip. His 42 which came from 63 balls included eight fours. Thompson partnered Lyth for 118 minutes but he should have been back in the hutch three times before he scored. The first ball he faced from Paterson was widish but he followed it and was lucky not to get a touch on it. He had a nibble at his second ball which went through to Moores and wafted at the third ball. After those escapes Thompson got stuck in and fought for his runs as batting appeared to become easier and Nottinghamshire were becoming more desperate in their search for a wicket. It was Thompson who brought up Yorkshire’s 300 when he drilled Fletcher to the mid wicket boundary. Their partnership was broken when he shaped to play Mullaney to leg but got a thick outside edge to Duckett at second slip who dived forward and to his right to take the catch. Six overs after Lyth’s dismissal Dom Bess tried to work Hutton to leg but missed the ball and was leg before. Hutton got one to swing into Harry Duke who became Hutton’s third leg before victim of the innings. With the end of the innings nigh Ben Coad and Matt Revis decided to have some fun or rather Revis did as they added 28 in seven overs with Revis hitting five fours, if only Duckett hadn’t dropped him on five off Evison at second slip when he dove in front of Hutton at first slip. Eventually Nottinghamshire did get him when he was last man out when he chipped Paterson to Joe Clarke at mid off. Yorkshire lost their first wicket of the day after 38 minutes to Hutton’s fourth ball of the day when Will Fraine tried to play Hutton to leg missed the ball and was leg before. Needing 174 to win, Nottinghamshire lost their first wicket in the third over when Haseeb Hameed pushed forward at Coad and edged to Lyth at second slip who took a low catch moving to his left. In last year’s Bob Willis trophy match at Trent Bridge against Yorkshire Nottinghamshire, needed 188 to win and were dismissed for 97 in 29.2 overs. Day 4 IT took Nottinghamshire 37 overs on the final day to beat Yorkshire for the first time since 2008 by five wickets at 1.34. Seeing them home was opener Ben Slater who hit an unbeaten 79 from 132 balls in 192 minutes. When he was with Ben Duckett it looked like their victory would come before lunch. Slater said: “For us it was all about finishing the season with a win and thankfully we managed that with a satisfying performance in the end. We were gutted to miss out on that extra bonus point and how it transpired, which took the title race out of our hands, but that’s cricket I suppose. Unfortunately we can’t finish first but we did what we had to do in winning the game, giving us a chance of going to Lord’s next week depending on the other results. The way Duckett played last night, taking a decent chunk out of what we needed, set things up nicely for today. For me, it was nice to be there, not out at the end to win a game, which doesn’t happen that often for an opening batter.” Needing 132 more runs to win, Nottinghamshire got their first run of the day when Duckett glanced Matt Fisher down the legside evading Harry Duke for a single. Slater got Nottinghamshire’s first boundary of the day when he stroked Fisher to the cover boundary. He edged the next ball but Harry Duke dropped the chance as he dove in front of Tom Kohler-Cadmore at first slip whose catch it was. Their 50 partnership came off 82 balls when Duckett drove Coad into the covers and they ran a lazy two and Slater got the hurry up as Dom Bess’ return came in and hit him on the wrist as he grounded his bat. Apart from that the pair looked at ease and the runs came easily. Slater had a slice of luck when cue ended Jordan Thompson just wide of Harry Brook at third slip at shoulder height to the third man boundary. Duckett timed his drive off Thompson to the long on boundary perfectly with no power in the shot of the morning. He brought his fifty up off 80 balls in 101 minutes when he swept Bess to the fine leg boundary for one of his seven boundaries in his 50. He looked in the mood for more runs when he dragged Thompson on from outside his off stump. But it wouldn’t be Nottinghamshire if they didn’t have an hiccup on their way to victory and today was no exception as they went from 107 for two to 143 for four in eight overs losing Joe Clarke and skipper Steven Mullaney who could have blasted Nottinghamshire home. Clarke got giddy as the target went below 50 and went for a big hit off Bess over long on but sliced it to Kohler-Cadmore who got underneath it to take the catch at mid off. Mullaney played down the wrong line to Ben Coad who flicked the off stump. Tom Moores joined Clarke and his skipper to come and go without scoring over 10 to add to the Nottinghamshire fans' fears when he clipped Coad off his legs straight to Fraine at mid wicket with victory in sight. Liam Patterson-White clipped Bess off his legs to the mid wicket boundary to seal their victory. Yorkshire’s first team coach Andrew Gale said: “A lot of teams would have booked out of their hotel yesterday morning but we fought back and gave ourselves a chance but it was too late. We have to get big scores in the first innings. We should have bowled them out for around 200. Nottinghamshire bowled well but for us to be rolled over for 73 wasn’t good enough. We’ve still got problems with the first innings batting in seven out of 13 innings we haven’t managed to bat for two sessions. If you don’t get first innings runs you are always chasing games. I think that the lads weren’t on it for this game because of the disappointment of last week. But overall I am proud of the lads efforts this season, we’ve had a pretty good season and we are moving in the right direction Adam Lyth had a great start to the season but he hasn’t had the season that he would have liked in the last three months. Yesterday he showed his class. For us to have a chance of winning today we needed to get two or three wickets in the first half hour, that drop set the tone for the day. But we have won games where we didn’t have any right to win them.”September 23, 2021 9:17 am
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