Leicestershire v Yorkshire County Championship Div 2 at Grace Road Leicester September 9-12
Neil Whitaker reports
Day 1September 10, 2024 10:59 am
YORKSHIRE’S Ben Coad took five for 25 as Yorkshire dismissed Leicestershire for 98 on the stroke of lunch of the first day of their Vitality Championship match at their UptonSteel County ground.
Yorkshire won the toss and under a laden sky with a green pitch and Yorkshire captain Jonny Tattersall had no hesitation in putting Leicestershire and Coad struck in his first over when Rishi Patel flashed him to Finlay Bean at third slip.
Coad said: “ We’re very happy,it was obviously a big toss to win for Tattersall. I didn’t think the ball would do as much as it did when I first looked at it. I knew it would nip, but it seemed to nip every ball. It was just about putting it in the right area and let the pitch do its thing. I move around the crease a bit, but it’s just about hitting the top of off-stump as often as possible. You just have to be patient.”
Leicestershire then slumped to 11 for six in 12 overs as they found Coad and Matthew Fisher difficult to cope with under the conditions with only Ajinkya Rahine hitting a boundary and he hit two of them. Tom Scriven decided to throw caution to the wind and attacked the Yorkshire attack. With Ben Cox, who top scored with an unbeaten 51, he added 37 for the eighth wicket before Scriven had a wild swing at Coad and gave Jonny Bairstow, stumping instead of Tattersall, a routine catch.
Leicestershire were all out when Chris Wright was bowled by George Hill with one that kept low. Matthew Fisher took three for 38 with Jordan Thompson taking the other wicket.
Cox said : “Everyone looking at the pitch at 10.00 knew that the toss would be big and we fell on the wrong side of it and the conditions didn’t help facing a new ball at 10.30. It was difficult to bat and that’s the reason why I batted like I did to try and put them under pressure. If we had won the toss we could have been in a different position, but there was no complaining in the dressing room and that shows how together the team is. Even 15 for seven I felt that we could get 100.”
The pitch changed colour over lunch and batting became easier. I thought Tattersall played a good innings.”
In Yorkshire’s reply they should have lost Adam Lyth to the second ball but Wright put down a return chance. They eventually got rid of Lyth, 12 overs later when he was caught behind off Ian Holland. Lyth was either disgusted with his shot or with the decision as he stood with his hand on hip.
Bairstow wanted to hit all his runs from boundaries making 16 from four scoring shots. He seemed disappointed at breaking the sequence when he hit a two off Ian Holland, going for another boundary he top edged a cut off Scriven and Patel at first slip took the catch in his midriff as he fell to the ground.
Of their established batters only James Wharton passed 40 and he added 53 for the fifth wicket with Tattersall. As they worked the ball around and the runs came easily for them. That was until Wharton’s eyes lit up when Rehan Ahmed bowled a dreadful short and Wharton flatbed batted it to Holland on the long-on boundary who took a good catch after he misjudged it at the beginning.
Tattersall showed and batted with the composure and orthodox that the others had lacked. After Wharton’s departure Tattersall found a willing partner in Dom Bess who followed his captain’s lead. As with Wharton, Tattersall and Bess found runs easy to come by and they easily added 46 in 10 overs before Bess was bowled through the gate with one that came in at Bess.
Coad added: “That’s definitely his best knock that I’ve seen him play, it’s what he does. He grinds it out when you really need it, and that’s why he’s captain when Shan Masood isn’t here. He leads by example on the pitch. He’s not the most vocal, but that’s the sort of thing you love.”
Scriven got his fourth wicket when Thompson top edged a pull and Scott Currie on the fine leg boundary. At the close Tattersall was unbeaten 90 and Yorkshire had a lead of 165
Day 2
ONLY 39.1 overs were possible on day two before rain caused play to be abandoned at 3.40 with Leicestershire on 35 for two needing another 246 with eight second innings wickets standing to make Yorkshire bat again.26 year-old Matty Fisher, whose 11 year career with Yorkshire ends at the end of the season hit his best score for Yorkshire of 88 and he took both of the Leicestershire wickets to fall. He was the last man out but Yorkshire thanks to Fisher and Captain Jonny Tattersall Yorkshire extended their lead over Leicestershire to 281.Fisher drove Tom Scriven into the covers for a single to bring up the Yorkshire 300. He brought up his first 50 for Yorkshire, which came from 74 balls and included six fours, when he pushed Ian Holland for a single.
He had a life on 79 when he flat batted Rehan Ahmed to Leicestershire captain Lewis Hill at mid-off who dropped a sitter. Following that let off Fisher hit a couple of fours off Rehan Ahmed before stumper Ben Cox took a low catch off Rehan Ahmed. Fisher said: “I tried to hit it for one when I should have hit it. Sometimes when I bat at number nine, 10 or 11 I bat like a nine, 10 or 11 and sometimes I get carried away and bat faster.I decided to leave Yorkshire about four weeks ago and I see it as a chance to restart my career. I do have a bit of baggage with injuries here and it hurts me when I am injured because I get upset because I want to help the team.”Leicestershire took the new ball immediately it was due with Chris Wright taking it and Fisher duly hit seven runs with it.Tattersall hit another century and top scored with 126. He turned Scott Currie off hips for a single to bring up his hundred from 170 balls with 18 fours in the sixth over of the morning. He hit consecutive straight fours off Currie in his next over.His 290 minute innings ended when he pushed at a widish delivery from Rehan Ahmed who took the outside edge and Currie at slip took a low catch.
With Fisher they added 138 in 35 overs as they grinded Leicestershire into the ground.He said: “It’s always nice to get runs on the board but especially in the context of what’s at stake at this stage of the season. We knew it was going to be hard out there at first but it seemed to die down a little bit when the ball got 20-25 overs older and I’ve cashed in a bit when the ball is not doing so much.Pressure situations kind of suit my game. I’ve always been more of a defensive player who looks to soak up the pressure but I’ve worked on my game to get into positions where I can score runs.
Credit to the lads up top for trying to find the best way to get us into a position to try to win the match. We didn’t quite expect to get that many runs on the board but full credit to everyone who came in. They had their plans of what they wanted to do and went about it to get a great total on the board. Matthew Fisher was magnificent and we got a really good partnership together. We didn’t do anything silly, didn’t have to manufacture any shots and that made the partnership hard to break.Looking at the pitch on day one, we hadn’t thought we would get the batting points on the board that we did. With the heavy roller on it again tomorrow morning I expect it will be tough going at times but if we keep putting the ball in the right areas there is still plenty of grass on the pitch and hopefully we can take eight chances and wrap up the win.
”Leicestershire’s openers Rishi Patel and Holland had an over to face before lunch which they survived without loss. The afternoon session saw Patel audition for Bazball but he was soon back in the hutch. His knock of 19 in 18 balls ended when he had a big swing across the line to Fisher. It was a bizarre innings because after lunch he swung his bat at everything, he must have thought it was a T20 knock. His 19 included three fours all of which were airial. Fisher’s out swinger took the edge of Holland’s and George Hill took a comfortable catch at first slip still crouching at knee height.
Day 3
YORKSHIRE beat Leicestershire by an innings and 72 runs with George Hill taking the last six Leicestershire wickets to end with six for 59.Before he took his first wicket he had taken none for 29 in five overs so he took 6 for 30 in 8.3 overs.
He said: “ I thought that Jonny Tattersall did well and got us out of trouble and played a captain’s knock. Ben Coad bowled unbelievable in the first innings and today he bowled well without any luck and today it turned out to be my game.We are maturing as a group, a couple of season panic could have set in with the partnership between As a group we feel confident about who we play and everyone is contributing. We’ve got an extra day off to relax.”
Louis Kimber got off the mark with an inside edge off Hill that beat Jonny Bairstow and ran to the fine leg boundary. He hit another boundary this time to the third man boundary but that was that from Kimber. Without adding to his score he only got half forward to Hill and was leg before.Hill got his second leg before victim when Ben Cox played down the wrong line to him.
Cox got off the mark when he pulled Jordan Thompson over the square leg boundary for a six. Tom Scriven tried to turn Hill to leg, missed the ball and was leg before. He got his second Championship five wicket haul when he hit the top of Scott Currie’s off stump with a straight ball. Hill wrapped the match up when Chris Wright drove him and Matty Fisher ran round from mid off to take the catch. Rehan Ahmed top scored for Leicestershire with 77 to celebrate his call-up to the England touring squad to Pakistan and was seventh man out with Leicestershire on 183 for seven needing another 98 to make Yorkshire bat again. It was a blistering innings as he entertained the crowd with some exhilarating shots.
Leicestershire head coach Alfonso Thomas said: “Rehan Ahmed is the type of player that’s going to excite people but we have to remember that he is still a young guy but he is a classic case that you have to allow these young kids to express themselves. And we have to mirror the approach that England are taking.”He got off the mark when he drove Fisher to cover boundary to get off and he greeted Thompson’s appearance in the Yorkshire attack with a drive off back foot to the cover boundary. Three balls later on 13 he edged Thompson to Hill at first slip who put the chance down. That was the only thing that Hill did wrong in the field today. Rehan Ahmed chipped Thompson to the long-on boundary and immediately the umpires took the players off because of the rain, the first of three rain interruptions. Everybody came back at 12.07 for one over before going off and stayed off till 2.00.
When they returned Rehan Ahmed took the fight to the Yorkshire attack while Ajinka Rahane was content to play the silent role until Fisher over pitched and he drilled Fisher straight to the boundary.He drove Coad to the extra cover boundary to bring up the 50 partnership with Rahane off 78 balls. He lofted Coad over the long-on boundary for a six and drove Hill Caribbean style to the cover boundary.At 2.28 the umpire’s took the players off for the third time due to rain, 13 minutes later they were back on the field and Rahane clipped the first ball after resumption to the fine leg boundary. When they returned Rehan Ahmed pushed Coad to mid-on to bring up his 50 from 47 balls with with seven fours and one six.Surprisingly Rahane lost his patience and tried pulling Coad but hit an inside edge on to his stumps. With Rehan Ahmed he added 78 much needed runs for Leicestershire in 17 overs.Rehan Ahmed took a couple of paces down the pitch to Hill and lofted him over long off for a six but two balls later he got a thick outside edge to Hill and Adam Lyth at second slip took a low catch on his knees at second slip to take the catch.
Play started promptly at 10.30 after yesterday’s afternoon and evening rain. Leicestershire lost their first wicket in the sixth over of the day when Leicestershire captain Lewis Hill edged a wide delivery from Fisher and Lyth took a low catch just if the ground moving to his right at third slip.Leicestershire Head coach Alfonso Thomas said: “We rolled the dice and I’ve got to compliment the groundstaff, they prepared the pitch that we wanted. So it’s all on me.
Coming into this game we were 18 points behind Yorkshire, 19 behind Middlesex, if we had won, we would have got 24 points, it was a game worth taking and I play cricket to win games. We felt what have we got to lose, if we won we would have gone second. Everyone in the changing room was on board with that. We lost a toss which was a fantastic toss to win under the floood lights with 16 mm of grass on it.They bowled fantastically well, Coad and Fisher are two world class bowlers and they put us under the pumps and we couldn’t recover from that. Our bowlers cant be off the mark. Tattersall is a young captain and he took it on himself to grind us down and full credit to him.In the last 18 months we’ve come in leaps and bounds but we are still that one step away from taking the game to the opposition but that does not come overnight it comes over time. We say to the guys that it’s okay to fail and make mistakes as long as they learn from it.I gave the guys full control, to be brave and play that type of cricket and I asked them I’d back them 100% on how they went about the second innings, so it comes back to me.
”Yorkshire head coach Ottis Gibson said: “First and foremost, I’m really proud of the lads. I’ve been singing their praises for a number of weeks now, and the way we played this week is indicative of the way we’ve been playing for a number of weeks.Take the pitch out of it from last week, we’ve been playing some really good cricket and fully deserved our win here.I’ve been saying about pitches for three years now. England are never going to play international cricket on a pitch with 16 millimetres of grass on it. Even though we won the game, I don’t think first-class cricket should be played on a pitch with 16 mm of grass on it. That’s something for the ECB to sort out. Other than that, we bowled really well.
Tattersall won the toss first of all and give us the opportunity to bowl. After that we, batted well on it and then got ourselves into a bit of a problem. But Tattersall has made three hundreds since I’ve been here. He made 180 against Surrey at Scarborough when we were in trouble and a hundred against Derbyshire at Chesterfield earlier this year when we were in trouble. Then he’s got another hundred this week when we were in trouble. He’s the man for a crisis, and he’s been captaining the team really well also. We’re very grateful to have him in our team, for sure. The lads absolutely love him.We’re not going to focus too much on what’s going on in the other games. We just have to take care of our own business.
That’s what we’ve done over the last three days.Coad with the new ball in his hand is the best bowler in the country. I don’t think there’s a better new ball bowler in the country than Coad. Not only on grassy pitches like this, but also flat pitches. He’s magic, you know. It’s good to have Fisher back. I know he’s made his decision to leave, but he’s not gone yet. He’s still here , and we will play him because we want to win games of cricket. He was brilliant this week. I absolutely love George Hill. If he doesn’t do it with the ball, he will do it with the bat. He didn’t get any with the bat this week, but today when we needed him he was brilliant with the ball.”