County Championship Yorkshire v Hampshire September 2018

County Championship Yorkshire v Hampshire September 2018 at Headingley

Neil Whitaker reports

Day 1

YORKSHIRE bowlers fought back after they had been dismissed for 184 to have Hampshire struggling at 79 for five at the close.

The visitors had 24 overs to face but by the end of the sixth over they were three down as they lost three wickets in ten balls.  Joe Weatherley was the first to go after he had blasted five fours in his 21 when he was trapped leg before by Jack Brooks.  Weatherley was  followed six balls later into the hutch by his partner Oliver Soames who edged a drive off Ben Coad to Jonny Tattersall.  Veteran Jimmy Adams edged a square drive off Brooks and Harry Brook at third slip took a low one handed catch moving to his right.

 After driving Tim Bresnan to the cover boundary Sam Notheast tried repeating the shot to the next ball but edged him  to Brook at third slip who took the catch in his midriff.  

Hampshire skipper James Vince’s 57 minutes stay at the crease was ended when he tried to whip Bresnan through mid wicket and was leg before.

Hampshire’ s Gareth Berg said; “180 was about too much we should have got them out for about 150.  I don’t think that our bowlers bowled well we should have got them out for 140. But if we can  get one big partnership we can be back in it but that’s all we can do.  If we can get close to them we’ll take it from there.

We want to finish the season in third pace we deserve it.  We have hit our straps and it would be nice to finish third.  It would also be nice to end the season comfortable.”

Not for the first time this season Yorkshire’s top order failed to fire as they slumped to 72 for five but this time they could not be rescued by the middle order as they were dismissed for 184.

Leading the Hampshire bowlers was West Indian Fidel Edwards who took for for 83.  He was well supported by his other pacemen Kyle Abbott took two for 50, Berg whose two wickets cost 30 and Ian Holland who picked up two wickets for just 16 runs in 12 overs.

After morning rain washed out the morning session Adam  Lyth drove the first ball of the match from Abbott to the cover boundary which was greeted by cheers from the Yorkshire fans but by the second ball of the eighth over all the two’s were on the scoreboard at 22 for two.  Jeet Ravel’s run of poor form continued when he pushed forward at Abbott and was bowled.   Brook, who this time last year was being as the next Yorkshire batting hero, failed again.  His innings lasted two balls and he was lucky that he reached two balls.   He  pushed forward at his first ball from Abbott and edged him to Holland at first slip for a regulation catch but was dropped.  Brook became Edwards’ first victim with the second ball of the next over when squared Brook and bowled him through the gate.

Yorkshire lost three wickets for two runs in three overs.  First to go was Gary Ballance who started confidently by clipping Abbott off his legs for a couple of boundaries but he became the first of Berg’s two victims when he tried to play Berg to leg and was leg before. During his knock of 30 he passed 10,000 first-class runs and he said: “It’s always nice to contribute and perform for the team. It’s also nice to achieve a milestone like that but you’ve got to keep working at your game.”

Two overs later Tom  Kohler-Cadmore tried to shoulder arms to Berg but dragged it it and was bowled.  In the next over Lyth drove Holland to Liam  Dawson at gully.

Ballance said: “It was a typical Headingley wicket, the ball seamed around and you never felt in on it so to get 180 on that was good. I thought our bowlers bowled brilliantly to get them at 79 for five at the close.”

Another quick wicket by Hampshire now and Yorkshire would be struggling to reach 100 and the visitors thought they had got it.  Bresnan tried to pull away his bat away from Holland but got an outside edge but as he looked behind him  he stumper Tom Alsop drop the chance. Amazingly he had another life on 12 when  he edged Abbott inches wide off Adams at second slip who dove to his right. For the rest the over after the horse had bolted Vince had a third slip in place.

Bresnan and Tattersall stuck in and they looked like they would be the partnership  to get Yorkshire back in the match but in the last over before tea Tattersall was squared up by Holland and was bowled.

What the partnership between Bresnan and Tattersall  was to give the tail confidence and they added 74 in 17 overs after tea.   Matthew Waite joined Bresnan and they added 26 in six overs with Waite hitting 22 of them before he  edged Edwards’ second ball back into the attack without moving his feet to Alsop.

Before he had opened his account Steven  Patterson was dropped by Adams at second slip but it it was a difficult chance.  Patterson drove Berg off his backfoot but didn’t move his feet but Adams could only get his fingertips to it.

Bresnan was beaten by pace from Edwards and was yorked and lost his off stump.  Patterson became Edwards’ third victim to be bowled when he tried to swing him to leg and missed.  Brooks swung against the line to Abbott and lost his off stump

Before the match started 24 year old Coad was awarded his county cap and became the 182nd player to be capped.  He said: “I am ecstatic, it was a big surprise for me me.  I only found out before we went out to warm up.  Everyone knew about it  apart from me, all the lads and even my parents, who got me into cricket at a young age.  

I feel very fortunate I know some lads have waited longer than me for their cap, I’ve only played a handful of games.”

He made his debut for Yorkshire in 2016 at Durham. In that match he took only one wicket  and it an unbeaten 17.  “It’s been a steep learning curve for me. The step from playing for Yorkshire to playing for England is a massive one.  I’d love to play for England but I can’t do anything about it apart from putting  good performances for Yorkshire.”

With seamer Brooks leaving at the end of the season Coad said: “It’s time for me and the other young lads to step up and late the attack.  I know that here at Emerald Headingley I’m very good at hitting that certain area.”

He added: “We know we don’t to be down here at this end of the table. Hopefully the lads will learn from this season and hopefully we can perform in the next couple of years.”

Day 2

TIM Bresnan took three wickets in the morning session to give career best figures of five for 28 on a day affected by the weather.

It was his five wicket haul of the season and his ninth in all.  It took Yorkshire 43 minutes in gale force conditions  to break the overnight partnership and it was Bresnan who did it.  The overnight partnership between Kyle Abbott and Tom Alsop added 17 in 12 overs before night watchman Abbott was trapped leg before to Bresnan, the first of Bresnan’s four victims in the morning session.  Abbott did his night watchman role brilliantly as he resisted the Yorkshire bowlers for 66 minutes.  On 10 Abbott survived a strong leg before appeal when he pushed forward at Jack Brooks and offered no shot.

Alsop‘ s 97 minutes at the crease ended when sliced a cut off Bresnan to Adam  Lyth at second slip and was comfortably caught.  Liam Dawson was the third of Bresnan’s morning victims when he  dug out a yorker from Bresnan and chipped it straight back to him. 

Bresnan said: “It’s nice to finally get  five wickets. This morning I felt in decent rhythm and we put them under pressure this morning and last night. Our new ball bowlers did a good job then it was up to me to do the brunt of the work and  pick up the tail.  It’s nice to know that I can still do a job and it’s reward for Yorkshire giving me a new two year deal.  It took a while to sort out and I wasn’t thrilled with the process and the time that it took but it’s sorted now.  I am excited about the future there is a lot of talent in Yorkshire and it won’t be long before there playing here.

The wind affected a few of the bowlers but you use your experience to deal with it.

Yesterday we thought that if turn up and have the best of all three session we will be  favourites to win the game. If I am bowling well then the team usually does well. It’s nice to get a few runs and wickets.  It’s my runs at the end of the innings which help the team.” 

Gareth Berg and last man  Fidel Edwards batted 13.4 overs for only 17 runs.  Berg protected Edwards from the strike, Edwards would take. a single  and Berg would block the rest of the over.  The pair took Hampshire into lunch 28 behind and they even survived the extra half hour. The afternoon session was delayed by 50 minutes because of rain.  In the third over after lunch he tried to turn Ben Coad to leg and  was leg before.

With a first innings lead of 27 was this the day that  Kiwi Jeet Raval would get some runs, alas it wasn’t the be.  In the 10th over of their innings he edged a loose drive off Edwards to Alsop.  He made nine, at least he hasn’t made a duck but there is a match left.

Another player in desperate need of some runs is Harry Brook and when he hit consecutive boundaries off Berg through the covers  he seamed to grow in confidence. Yorkshire needed a century partnership from Lyth and Brook and in the seven overs they were together they were rarely troubled.

For the last over before tea James Vince brought on Liam Dawson who struck with his first ball. He teased Brook forward and the ball turned and gave Alsop an easy catch.  Dawson got his second wicket when Gary  Ballance tried to whip him to leg and was leg before. 

Dawson’s said: “It was my first ball in six innings and ex Pakistan leg-spinner Mustang Ahmed has helped me a lot just by talking about the game  and telling me to attack more.

I am delighted to be picked in the England one-day squad to go to Sri Lanka and I am looking forward to going. I know it’s going to be hard to get into the team but it’s nice to be in the squad.

In this game we are up against but everyone plays for pride and to achieve their personal goals. All the lads will be wanting to do well for the rest of this game and the Lancashire game.”

Tom Kohler-Cadmore looked in commanding form especially when he hit Abbott for three fours in for balls through the offside, the second of which was a brutal shot off his back foot.  He wafted Dawson casually  over mid wicket for a huge six.  With Lyth, Kohler-Cadmore 45 in 11 overs before edged a driv off Holland to the standing up to the medium pacer Ian Holland.

Lyth’s innings was a very unlike Lyth innings as he was prepared to let Ballance and Kohler-Cadmore have the strike. His shot of the day was when he drove Abbott to the extra cover boundary.   He pushed Abbott for a single in the covers to bring up his fifty which came from 114 balls in 155 minutes with six fours.

Day 3

ONLY 33 overs were possible on the third day before the rain came at lunchtime and washed play out for the rest of the day with Yorkshire leading by 314 runs.

In the morning session Adam  Lyth and Jonny Tattersall added another 93 before Liam Dawson took his fourth wicket of the innings. When  Tattersall, went down the wicket and swept him to Jimmy Adams at short fine leg.  Lyth carried on and made his first Championship century since the Roses match at Emerald Headingley in June 2017 when he made 100.  At lunch He was unbeaten on 134. He brought up his century when hammered Gareth Berg through backward point.

Lyth said: “I am really pleased with my performance in this innings after I was disappointed with my first innings when I didn’t kick on from start I had and get through the new ball and  put the team in a good position.  It’s been a frustrating season for me the most frustrating one I’ve had at the club in first-class cricket.  I’ve been on the wrong end of a few decisions.

On a pitch like this if you hang  around and defend because there is a chance that you’ll nick one off or get a leg before.  Before play we had a chat about how to approach this pitch, you have to put the bowlers under pressure and we’ve still got some batting to do in this game when we get back on.”

The day started badly for Hampshire when stumper Tom Alsop was unfit to keep wicket because of a fracture at the base one of his left thumb and his thumb ligament.  His place behind the stumps was taken by twelfth man  Aneurin Donald the great nephew of Bernard Hedges who kept wicket for Glamorgan in the 1950’s and 60’s. First X1 coach Craig White said: “He won’t keep wicket again this season but h w will bat if needed.”

Tattersall had only added two to his overnight score when he tried to leave a short ball from Kyle Abbott but the ball nipped back and hit the face of his bat.  The ball was heading to Ian Holland at first  but Donald dived for it and put Holland off.  The Yorkshire find of the season had another life l on 22 when he survived a strong leg before appeal from Abbott.  Tattersall cashed in in those two chances and he brought the fifty partnership up with Lyth when he danced down the wicket to Dawson and whipped him to the mid wicket boundary.  A cover boundary from Lyth off Holland brought up the fifty partnership with Tattersall.

Lyth played forward to Dawson and edged him but Donald failed to hold the catch.  Next ball Lyth backed away to cut Dawson.  Donald went up for a catch and the Hampshire players couldn’t believe that umpire Graham Lloyd didn’t give him out.  Dawson was indignant at the decision that it took him a while to bowl the next ball. 

Fidel Edwards must have been hungry because in his last two overs he bowled at a pace not seen before in this match.  He bowled a short ball ball that nearly knocked Tim Bresnan’s head off as he ducked into it.  He hit Lyth with a short ball in the last over before lunch.

White added: “In the last few years we’ve been involved in relation battles so it’s nice to be safe with a match left to play.  We’ve not been at our best in this game and its because of our inconsistency that we’ve been at the wrong end of the table. We have a good game and then we have a bad game. The good teams don’t get beaten, we need to be harder to get beaten.

If we had been relegated it would have tarnished the season even after winning the one-day cup because we weren’t at our best in the T20. It would be nice to finish the season on a high and that would give us confidence for next season.

The pitch here flattens as the match goes on and before the match we were thinking that 310 or 320 would be good chase, last year we chased 340 to win. Yesterday we just had to hang in there and keep it as tight as we could.”

Day 4

UMPIRES Graham Lloyd and Michael Gough abandoned the game as a  draw shortly before noon after rain on Thursday afternoon, night and Friday morning prevented any play on Friday.

With one match to play at Worcester on Monday Yorkshire want to end the season with a victory.  Yorkshire’ first X1 coach Andrew Gale said: “We want to end the season on a high. Hopefully we can get the two points we need to guarantee safety early on and then win the game.  We’ve been waiting all season for people to get into form and they’re coming into form at the end of the season. I’ll be making sure that the lads are in the right state of mind. The challenge for them for next season is to get some form before the season starts  to take into the new season.

Before the rain came we were in a commanding position. It wasn’t ideal to get bowled out for 180 so  we knew that we had to be good with ball to drive the game forward.  Because of the toss rules where we have to bat first we always try to get as close to 250 as we can.  We need to get back to having a toss because at the moment too much is in the favour of the away team.  We know that in matches at Headingley that we are going to be batting first so we ask for the best possible wicket the ground staff can prepare.  Because of the overhead condition’s here the ball is going to swing in April and September.

Players are now signing contracts which is a weight of their minds and they are playing better and are settled. I don’t get involved in contracts. It has taken us a while but people are now settled and more comfortable. Even though Jack Brooks has signed for Somerset he is now playing better than he was earlier.”

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