County Championship Yorkshire v Hampshire at Headingley May 27-30

Yorkshire v Hampshire at Headingley May 27-30

Day 1

FIDEL Edwards took four wickets in 12 balls after tea as Hampshire controlled day one of their clash with Yorkshire a day truncated by rain and bad light.

His first victim in the post tea session was Jonny Tattersall who pushed at Edwards but Edwards took the outside edge to give Aneurin Donald his second catch behind the stumps.  Donald substituted for Tom Alsop, who wasn’t feeling well, behind the stumps after lunch.  In last season’s match at Emerald Heading Donald also substituted for Alsop behind the stumps.

England discard David Willey, playing his first championship game of the season, received a loud cheer as he walked  to the crease. He got off the mark with a drive to the extra cover boundary off James  Fuller and pulled him to the mid wicket boundary.  He smashed Edwards to the long off boundary. Out off his first 29 runs he hit six fours and it looked to be written in the sky that he would hit a 50 until he chipped Edwards to Keith Barker at mid on.

Yorkshire skipper Steven Patterson in his brief stay always looked to be a candidate to be bowled and he was by a quick outswinging ball from Edwards.  Ben Coad didn’t hang around too long and he was beaten by the pace of Edwards. It was Edwards who took the first wicket in the second over after lunch when Harry Brook tried to cut him but he chopped on.

Fuller making his championship debut for Hampshire said: “Edwards just blows the tail away bowling at 90 mph and these days most of the tail’s can bat.  He is brilliant at blowing the tail away and gets a lot of wickets by pitching the ball up.

He wants to play all the time but we’ve got a good squad so we can rotate the guys around.  Fidel is always joking in the dressing room.”

After a delayed start due to morning rain, Yorkshire won the toss and decided to bat they nearly paid the price when Adam Lyth edged the second ball from Barker luckily short off Ajinkya Rahane at first slip.  Fuller added: “We wanted to bat because it looked like a good batting wicket and we always do well when we bat first.”

The Yorkshire openers faced five overs before rain drove the players off and they took an early lunch.  On 18 Lyth edged a drive off Barker but Joe Weatherley at second slip couldn’t hold on to it.

Hampshire thought they had Gary Ballance caught behind off Edwards but umpire Rob  Bailey was unmoved and Ballance indicated the ball had brushed his leg.  They did get their second wicket when Barker squared Lyth up and he edged it to Weatherley at second slip.

Barker got his second wicket of the innings when he squared up another left hander, this time Ballance, who edged to Donald.  Yorkshire lost their fourth wicket to the fourth ball after play had restarted for the fourth time when Jack Leaning pushed at Fuller without moving his feet.

Tom Kohler-Cadmore was yorked by Fuller who got his revenge on Kohler-Cadmore who had hit him for three of his seven fours.  Fuller was driven straight for the first four, driven through the covers and cut through backward point.  Fuller said: “It was nice to get him out.  Both him and Willey looked like they could take the game away from us.”

Dom Bess making his Headingley debut was the last when he edged a drive to Holland at gully and Yorkshire had lost their last five wickets for 11 runs in four overs. Edwards  took five for 49, his best figures this season and Fuller ended three for 51 in 13.2 overs.  Fuller added: “Before the game we would take 181 but now we have to get some runs on the board.  We started badly with and we couldn’t get into a rythem, it may have something to do with our defeat in the final on Saturday.”

The Hampshire openers Weatherley and Oliver Soames had 11 overs to face under the lights but they lost Soames to first ball of the last over when Soames was trapped leg before to Coad.

Day 2

HAMPSHIRE’s James Fuller hit his first championship fifty for the club to go with the three wickets he took on the first day  as Hampshire ended the second day  49 runs ahead with Yorkshire on.

Fuller was only the second player in both sides to hit a fifty, his captain Sam Northeast  made his fifth fifty of the season as Hampshire were dismissed for 235, a lead of 54. 

When he came into bat Hampshire were still 38 behind Yorkshire.  He joined Ian Holland and they threatened to take  Hampshire to a lead nearer 100 than 50 and take the match away from Yorkshire with hard hitting shots which regularly found the boundary.  Holland got off the streaky four off Duanne Olivier that turned him round and the ball found its way to the third man boundary.   Fuller uppercut Olivier over the slips for a six. The pair looked set but their partnership was broken when Holland tried to work Steven Patterson through mid wicket and was leg before.

It was Fuller who took Hampshire the lead when her pushed forward at Dom Bess and edged to the third man boundary.  The hard hitting Keith  Barker was threatening to consolidate a big lead when he blasted David Willey through extra cover but Willey had the last laugh when he squared Barker up and edged him to Tom Kohler-Cadmore at first slip.

Rain stopped play at 3.40 and play didn’t restart until 6.10. In the second over after the restart Mason Crane was squared up Ben Coad and lost his off stump. Fuller reached his first championship fifty with a perfectly timed  straight six off Patterson into the Emerald stand.  His fifty came from 73 balls and included three sixes and four fours.

Coad got his fourth wicket when Fidel Edwards drove over the ball and lost his off stump.

In the morning Olivier bowled with genuine pace and it was his pace that got him his first wicket of the morning. His pace not only worried the Hampshire batsmen but also Yorkshire wicket keeper Jonny  Tattersall. One ball from Olivier beat Joe Weatherley on the outside and swing back in after it had beaten Weatherley and beat Tattersall on his left side and went to their boundary.

It was not only Olivier that Tattersall had problems with.  He had a shocker behind the stumps failing to gather from the pace bowlers, failing to gather a ball which would have lead to a run out and nearly missed a stumping as he dropped the ball.

As well as the pace of Olivier it was also down to a brilliant piece of fielding by Adam Lyth at second slip that he got they first wicket of the morning.  Weatherley gloved a pull shot off Olivier and the ball looped over Jack Leaning at third slip.  Leaning lept for the ball arched his back and parried it.  Lyth dove to his right behind Leaning taking the catch one handed in his right hand.  Weatherley was unhappy with the decision and stood his ground before walking off.

In his next over Olivier lost his run up three times.

Hampshire skipper Northeast on 13 turned Coad off legs to mid wicket and set off for a single.  He was sent back by Ajinka Rahane and looked to be run out by a mile but Tattersall couldn’t gather Gary Ballance’s throw.

Lucky for Yorkshire there was no repeat of what Rahane and Northeast did last week against Nottinghamshire when they added 257 for the third wicket, this time they only added 66.  Rahane had a rash of blood and raced down wicket to Bess’ third ball missed it, Tattersall dropped the ball but was quick enough and broke the stumps.  Again an  Hampshire batsman was not impressed by the decision.

Three balls later Northeast edged Bess and the ball was deflected wide of Lyth at slip.

Rilee Rossouw  batted as if they were in a run chase.  He had seen Weatherley bat carefully for seven overs in the morning against Olivier,  then he had seen Rahane try to hit Bess out of Headingley, so what did he do.  He launched Willey over long off for a six.  Next ball he top edged a pull and Kohler-Cadmore at first slip took a running catch, when there was no need to.

Olivier got his second wicket when Tom Alsop tried to guide him through the slips but his bat was well away from his body and Lyth at second slip took the catch  all be it at the second attempt.  In the first over after lunch Alsop had  played a delightful cover drive off Coad that  gave the feeling that Alsop and Northeast were in the mood for a big partnership.

Northeast brought up his fifth  fifty of the season with an inside edge off Coad that missed the leg stump and flew to the boundary. Five balls later he was back in the hutch when he played around a straight ball from Coad and was leg before.

Day 3

THE third day was another day hit by the weather, when the umpires took the players off the field shortly before tea because of rain there were 41.5 overs left in the day and when the umpires called play off for the day 102 overs had been lost due to the rain.

What play was possible saw Yorkshire in the lead by 153 with seven second innings standing.   Yorkshire’s lead was due to a third wicket partnership of 145 in 41 overs between Gary Ballance and Tom Kohler-Cadmore which rescued Yorkshire innings to give their bowlers something to bowl with in the fourth innings.  On Tuesday evening Hampshire first X1 manager Adrian Burrell said that a Yorkshire lead of 200 would be attractive to chase in the fourth innings.

When play was called off Ballance was on the verge of hitting his fifth championship century in five consecutive championship matches and his sixth century against Hampshire.  He has already hit three centuries this season, only Joe Root has scored a century for Yorkshire.

On 31, Ballance glanced James Fuller off his hips just out of the reach off stumper Aneurin Donald and then brought up the hundred partnership with Kohler-Cadmore with another boundary off the next ball this time through mid wicket.

He must have had his heart in his mouth when drove Fuller in the covers and saw Mason Crane there but he must have have been mightily relieved when he saw the ball just go beyond Crane’s reach.

Fuller was the unfortunate bowler again when Ballance brought up his fifty, which came from 92 balls and included 10 fours, with a boundary. To rub salt into Fuller’s wounds it went between Donald and Ajinkya Rahane at  first slip.

When the pair came together Kohler-Cadmore tried to combat Keith Barker by walking down the wicket to him so Donald stood up to the wicket to Barker.  “I did that to make sure that I couldn’t get out leg before because the pitch was doing a bit.” He gave a  chance when he was on 42 when he edged Fidel Edwards just short off Rahane at first slip.  He powered Fuller off his back foot to the point boundary in the first over after lunch for the shot of the day. He reached his fifty from 96 balls when he turned Barker off his legs for a single.

The partnership was broken when Kohler-Cadmore played around a full ball from Ian Holland and was leg before.  The departure of Kohler-Cadmore woke the Hampshire players up and they became more chirpy, a fact which was not lost on the crowd who began to sarcastically to join in.  Kohler-Cadmore added: “I like batting with Ballance because he’s relaxed, been there and done it. It’s nice nice to stand there at the other end and watch him bat.  We quickly  knocked of the deficit which was nice. It’s always nice watching the lead going up and I feel more confident when there’s a lead.”

The day started badly for Yorkshire when they lost their first wicket of the day in the fourth over of the morning when Harry  Brook was caught in his crease and never played forward or back to Barker and gave an easy catch to Joe Weatherley at second slip.

Barker got his second wicket in his next over when AdamLyth guided him to Weatherley at second slip.

Kohler-Cadmore said: “I would like open the innings for Yorkshire in the County championship but I’ve always batted in the middle order and I will bat wherever Yorkshire want me to bat.  At the moment Lyth and Brook are the right men for the job and they are both very talented. Brook will come good. I feel more confident in red ball cricket because of my failures earlier in my career and not because of my successes.”

Day 4

GARY Ballance became the second Yorkshire player to hit five Championship centuries in as many matches but the rain ruined any chances of a positive  result as the match with Hampshire was drawn with a further 21 overs lost bringing the total lost to 123.

Ballance said: “ I didn’t know that, it’s just nice to contribute to the team and to put us in a good position.  I try to be consistent over a period of time and that’s what you have to do as a batsman or bowler. I am enjoying this season and I think I am playing as good as ever. I am feeling very confident.”

Play didn’t start until 11.45 losing 12 overs, play was only possible for 27 minutes before another nine overs were lost.  Ballance added:” If we hadn’t had that much rain I think we would have won the game.” In the play that was possible before lunch, Ballance reached his hundred when he drove Mason Crane through the covers.   A missfield by John Fuller coming in from the boundary allowed Ballance to take a couple for his hundred.  His century came in 254 minutes off 164 balls and included 10 fours. Halfway through the next over the rain came back and drove the players from the field.  It was the 39th time in Championship that he has converted a fifty into a century.

Six balls after reaching his ton and the fifth ball after lunch He pushed forward to Crane, trying to work him through the legside and was leg before dropping his average to 89.

Keith Barker struck with the fifth ball of the new ball. The left hander bowling around the wicket seamed it back in at Jack Leaning and knocked his middle stump out of the ground.  Yorkshire were five down with a lead of 215.

David Willey crashed Fidel  Edwards through the covers for an early boundary and did well to dig out two Yorkers from Edwards that brought him runs.

With the Hampshire field set on one day mode Jonny Tattersall hit back to back fours to reach his fifty, his second fifty against Hampshire this season and Yorkshire promptly declared.  Ballance said: “We had to give it a go because anything could -have happened, we had 48 overs at them and got five wickets.”

Set 279 to win Hampshire lost their first in the second over when Oliver Soames top edged a pull off Duane Olivier and the ball looped in the air to give Olivier a simple return catch.

In the next over Ajinkya Rahane got the faintest of inside edges to one from Ben Coad that tailed in at him who lost his middle stump.

Sam Northeast and Joe Weatherley batted for 13 overs without looking in any difficulty until the last over before tea when Northeast fiercely clipped Ben Coad off his legs to Willey at short mid mid wicket who took a low catch.

In Coad’s first few overs after tea Yorkshire operated with nine fielders in a catching position with five of them on the legside.

With four men around him Weatherley drove Dom Bess score to the boundary to bring up his fifty which came from 84 balls.  Weatherley brought up the hundred partnership with Rilee Rossouw which came in 22 overs  when he pulled Coad to the square leg boundary. The partnership was broken when Weatherley chipped Bess off his legs to Willey at short mid wicket.

After keeping Rossouw company for eight overs Ian Holland was bowled by one from Bess that turned into him.

Weatherley said: “After losing three wickets at tea me and Rossouw had to get a partnership going and after tea we did enough to get a draw.  The first 12 overs were quite tricky but the sun came out after tea and the ball became softer so it became easier to bat.

We were disappointed that we didn’t get a bigger lead, but I thought Ballance batted well, again against us. We are happy to come away with a draw after we made a slow start on the first day.  This season we are putting teams under pressure and we are competing very well.”

SCORECARD

May 28, 2019 12:00 am

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