Northamptonshire v Yorkshire April 29-May 2

Northamptonshire v Yorkshire April 29-May 2 at Northampton

Neil Whitaker reports

Day 1
WAYNE Parnell took his first five wicket haul for Northamptonshire as they dismissed Yorkshire for 206 inside  64 overs.

Parnell got his wickets with good balls but he bowled some rubbish balls as well.  His first wicket was that of Gary Ballance.  After a couple of interruptions for rain, the first meant that lunch had to be taken early, Yorkshire were soon in trouble after the second interruption. Ballance edged Parnell to Rob  Keogh at second slip but he failed to hold on to it but he did knock it up to Ben  Curran at first slip  who completed the catch.

Harry Brook survived a good leg before shout from Parnell but the bowler had his revenge in his next over when he did get Brook leg before on the back pad for a duck.

By the time Jordan Thompson came to the crease were six down  for 137. It could have been a lot worse. Jonny  Tattersall and Dom Bess had just shared a fifty plus partnership to give the Yorkshire score an air of respectability, without those runs they wouldn’t have got near to 200.  The pair saw Yorkshire to tea without any further loss but they found batting hard.

Northamptonshire eventually managed to break the pair up in the 13th over after tea. Tattersall tried to drive one from former Yorkshire player Ben Sanderson that came back in at him without moving his feet and Tattersall ended up edging him to Gareth Berg at third slip who took the catch at chest high.  Their fifty partnership came off 100 balls.

Parnell was back in the wickets when he bowled Thompson round his legs and lost his leg stump. The South African got his fourth wicket when David Willey shovelled a bottom edge and Vasconcelos took a great low catch scrambling to his left.  Yorkshire skipperSteven Patterson tried to drive him but he didn’t move his feet and edged Parnell to Vasconcelos.

Bess top scored for Yorkshire with 56 and gave something for him and the other Yorkshire bowlers something to bowl at. But he couldn’t get out of the fifties but is that his job.  His downfall came when he miscued a pull off Berg straight to former Lancashire and England player Simon Kerrigan.

Tom Kohler-Cadmore said: “The ball’s moved around all day. Credit to their bowlers that they kept testing our forward defences and hammering away. They bowled nicely and put us under a lot of pressure. 

You’d always want more on the board, but I reckon we’d be about par with 200. I feel that’s competitive if we can get it right with the ball. Hopefully we can have a good day tomorrow and turn it into a one-innings game.It was the last thing everyone was expecting the way Adam  Lyth’s seeing the ball, out first ball of the match, but it shows how much of a leveller cricket is.”

Northamptonshire skipper Ricardo Vasconcelos had a mixed day.  He won the toss and put Yorkshire into bat and got immediate success with the first ball of the match.  Lyth, who has been prolific in the early season, shaped to leave the ball from Sanderson but the ball nipped back and he played on.  But on the minus side Northamptonshire conceded 29 extras and Vasconcelos had 19 byes against him, could they prove to be vital

Will Fraine had a life on four when he was dropped by Keogh at second slip and the ball ran for a couple. With Kohler-Cadmore he added 66 for the second wicket before he pulled a short ball from Berg which didn’t get up and was plumb leg before.±

Berg got his second wicket of the innings when he flattened Kohler-Cadmore’s off stump. Yorkshire had three wickets for four runs in 19 minutes.

With 11 overs to face Vasconcelos batted in his usual manner and pulled Thompson over square leg for a six in the fourth over.

Day 2

THE match is now a one  innings aside match after Northamptonshire were dismissed for 234 with a lead of only 28 as David Willey, Jordan Thompson and Steven Patterson took three Northamptonshire wickets each.

Northamptonshire skipper Ricardo Vasconcelos carried on batting on Friday morning as he did on Thursday evening and looked set to get a century.  But it took Northamptonshire 15 balls to open their account on the second morning when Vasconcelos whipped Patterson off his legs to the mid wicket boundary. Patterson broke the partnership in his next over when Ben  Curran pushed at him only to guide it to Harry Brook at third slip.

Just before the end of the first hour's play of the morning Yorkshire got two quick wickets.  Charlie Thurston hung his bat out to Thompson and Adam  Lyth at second slip took the catch. In the next over Yorkshire got rid off Vasconcelos when he played Patterson with soft hands but his edge just reached Tom  Kohler-Cadmore at first slip. Vasconcelos had made batting look easy during his flamboyant innings which included seven boundaries.

Northamptonshire lost four wickets for five runs in 20 balls.  Patterson got his third wicket of the day when Rob Keogh didn’t get over the ball and edged him to Kohler-Cadmore at first slip.  Without adding to the total Northamptonshire lost their fifth wicket of the day when Brook at third slip took a great low one handed catch diving to his right.

Saif Zaib and  Tim Taylor showed the early batsmen what they should have done and saw their team to lunch without any further loss.  After lunch Zaib hit consecutive boundaries off Patterson, the first he pulled through mid wicket and the second stroked through the covers as Northamptonshire trailed by less than 60.  He then lofted Bess to the mid wicket boundary.

Taylor top edged a drive off Willey to the third man boundary. Those four runs meant that Zaib and Taylor had doubled the Northamptonshire score.  Zaib reached his fifty off 127 balls when he smashed a short ball from Dom  Bess to the mid wicket boundary.  He seemed to become over confident and drove over a ball from Willey and lost his middle stump.  The Yorkshire tails were now up and believed that they could get a lead

Willey found the edge of Taylor’s bat  that flew above the slips and received a boundary without knowing too much about it.  In the second over after tea  he dropped the ball out to the covers to bring up his first first class fifty for Northamptonshire after he signed from local rivals Leicestershire and his fifth in all. His fifty came from 138 balls in 192 minutes and included six fours.  Without adding to his score he was beaten by one that Bess fired in and lost his off stump.

Northamptonshire got their batting point when Wayne Parnell smashed Duanne Olivier to the cover boundary. Parnell looked like he could marshall the rest of the tail to get a lead of fifty. But for the second time in the Northamptonshire innings there was a procession of wickets as they lost four wickets for 35 runs in10 overs but at least this time they could blame the new ball.  Parnell danced about in his crease to avoid being hit by Willey edged him to Kohler-Cadmore.

Simon Kerrigan never looked comfortable against Willey and he simply guided Willey to Lyth at second slip.  In the next over, last man  Ben Sanderson made his way back to the dressing after he edged Thompson to Jonny Tattersall who took a low catch.

With 20 overs to face before stumps Kohler-Cadmore edged a ball that he had to play at from Sanderson and edged it to Vasconcelos for a duck.  Still trailing five overs later Will Fraine tried to whip a full length ball from  Parnell to leg and was plumb leg before.

Lyth pulled Sanderson to the square leg boundary to take Yorkshire into the lead. Gareth Berg was brought into the attack and he struck with his third ball when Taylor at third slip casually took the catch to dismiss Lyth.

Thompson said: “The pitch and overhead conditions were helping the bowlers. It did quite a bit off the pitch to be fair.  The Northamptonshire bowlers bowled well yesterday, but we got ourselves in a position to gain momentum and then lose a couple of quick wickets. That’s been a bit of a trend over the last couple of weeks.

We keep having to fight back, which is a bit frustrating but we’ll continue to do that here.  It’s hard to put a number on it. I wouldn’t want to get caught out on the third and fourth day but 0if we can take wickets in clusters, you never know. You saw what happened at Sussex last week when we defended 230. Anything over 200, hopefully more towards 300, we feel like we can defend.

It’s one of those pitches where you never feel in. You can get to 50 and there’s still a ball with your name on it. To lose Lyth at the end was a bit gutting, but we’ll rebuild tomorrow. A couple of lads in the middle order are due a big score, so hopefully we can put some runs on the board.”

Day 3

A COMBINATION of bad light and rain ended a fascinating third day early with 16 overs left in the day with Northamptonshire needing another 126 runs for victory and Yorkshire needing six more wickets for their third consecutive victory.

For the second time in seven days David Willey was involved in late wicket partnerships which helped Yorkshire post a second innings total which they could defend.  He joined Jordan Thompson in the first full over after lunch when Harry  Brook edged his first ball after lunch a widish delivery to Rob Keogh at first slip to give Wayne Parnell his fourth wicket of the innings.  At that point Yorkshire were 121 ahead with only two wickets standing, when the partnership was broken, because Thompson played forward to Simon Kerrigan and feathered it to Ricardo Vasconcelos standing up, their lead had gone to 186.
 
Thompson was the dominant partner and played two delightful shots off Ben Sanderson for boundaries, the first through the covers and clipped off his legs. Willey bided his time but kept the scoreboard moving increasing Yorkshire’s lead and hit the occasional boundary.  He flicked Gareth  Berg off his legs for a six over long on to take Yorkshire’s lead past 200.  Three balls later he pulled Berg over square leg for another six.  Berg’s next ball was shorter and Willey dispatched him for another six to take him into the forties.  

Willey said: “I think we’re probably just favourites at the moment.  We scrapped well with the bat to get something to bowl at, and there’s still plenty in the pitch. If we can create six chances tomorrow, we’re in with a really good chance.  It’s hard work with the bat, there’s no denying that. There’s one with your name on.”

Parnell wrapped the Yorkshire innings up in the next over when he angled a ball that kept low in at Duanne Olivier and knocked his leg stump out of the ground.  It was Parnell’s fifth wicket of the innings to give match figures of 10 for 143.

Brook came into bat at the fall of the first wicket of the day in the fourth over of the morning. Gary Ballance,after doubling his overnight score,flicked at a good length ball from Parnell and gave Ben Curran at first slip comfortable catching practice.  

Brook had a terrible time in Berg’s first over of the day when he kept playing and missing but he drove the first of Berg’s next over to the long off boundary. That shot gave him confidence and he went on to be involved in two partnerships that gave Yorkshire fans some hope. First with Jonny Tattersall and then with Dom  Bess.

The sixth wicket partnership with Tattersall was only worth 26 in 10 overs but it frustrated the visitors' bowlers which laid the foundations for Bess, Thompson and Willey.  After leaving a  few balls from Tom Taylor, Tattersall feathered one that was angled in at him to give Taylor his only wicket of the match with Tattersall making 18 with four boundaries.

Brook brought up the Yorkshire hundred up when he flicked Berg to the mid wicket boundary. At the other end  Bess hit consecutive boundaries off Taylor  through extra cover.  On 23 he edged Taylor just short off stumper Vasconcelos and ran to the third man boundary to overtake Brook. The fifty partnership was brought up when Brook pulled a short ball from Sanderson over the square leg boundary.  The partnership was broken on the stroke of lunch when Sanderson nipped one back into Bess which was hitting leg stump. The pair added 59 in 17 overs.

Parnell got his third wicket of the innings with a ball that swung late at night watchman Steven Patterson and was adjudged leg before.

Needing 220 to win, Curran drove the first ball from Patterson for a straight boundary and then pulled Thompson for another boundary in the next over.  But the young bowler pitched his last ball of the over up and Curran was leg before. Thompson was on a hattrick when the first ball of his next over trapped Charlie Thurston on the crease.

Northamptonshire lost their third wicket when Keogh, who never looked at eased, edged one that Willey angled across him giving Tom Kohler-Cadmore at first slip a simple chest high catch.

From the joy of catching Keogh, Kohler-Cadmore went to despair when he put Vasconcelos down on 25 at first slip off Willey.  It was a dolly, as a famous Yorkshire opener would say: “My mum would have caught it in her piney.”  To make Kohler-Cadmore  feel worse Vasconcelos' next three scoring shots were all boundaries.

Yorkshire did get the Northamptonshire skipper after he had added only another 16 runs.  The South African born Vasconcelos can take the match away from any side if you give him life’s and when the target gets below 100 the required runs would come down very quickly.  So Yorkshire would have been pleased to get rid of him for less than fifty.  He turned Patterson off his legs to Willey at mid wicket but he couldn’t beat Wiley’s direct hit.

Willey added: “He’s a very good player who has scored a lot of runs this year. With him out, I’m sure they see it as a much bigger challenge ahead.”

Day 4 

YORKSHIRE beat Northamptonshire by one run their first one run victory in the County Championship since they beat Middlesex at Bradford in 1976, Northamptonshire’s defeat was their first by one run in the county championship.

Northamptonshire’s Wayne Parnell who came in at number eight with 84 needed,nearly saw his side home was the last man out for 33 when he edged a straight ball from Yorkshire captain Steven Patterson to Jonny Tattersall.

Patterson said: “I’m not sure I can explain that. It was certainly a roller-coaster. 
Looking back on it, we’re delighted to win because we haven’t played anywhere near the cricket we’re capable of. But what it has shown, the same as last week and the week before, is our team spirit and attitude.  The way we keep fighting our way back into games despite how we start is a testament to the desire in that dressing room.
At no point until it got down to probably four runs did I feel we were losing that game. I always felt we’d create one more opportunity.”

The final day the match  swung one way, then another, rain intervened and when Northamptonshire seamed home they lost their final wicket.  Northamptonshire started the day needing another 126 runs and got off to a good start. Saif Zaib and Luke Procter.  Zaib who showed  a lot of promise during this match drove Jordan  Thompson to the  cover boundary to bring up the Northamptonshire hundred up. Aided by some wayward bowling by David Willey,  Zaib and  Luke Procter added 21 in 25 minutes but when Willey got his radar working he forced Procter to give Tattersall a regulation catch.

Zaib got the Northamptonshire victory target below a hundred when  he drove  Patterson to the cover boundary.

After another wayward delivery from Willey which gave Tattersall no chance and went for four byes, Willey and the rest of the Yorkshire team were convinced they had got their second wicket of the morning.  Tom Taylor edged Willey and Tom  Kohler-Cadmore took a low catch but neither Taylor or umpire Nick Cook moved.

In the next over Yorkshire did get rid of Taylor. He was adjudged leg before to a ball that cut back in at him.  This time it was Taylor’s turn  to feel aggrieved.

Following Parnell’s 10 wickets in the match Northamptonshire’s hopes rested on him and Zaib.  When Parnell got off the mark by smashing Willey to the cover boundary it looked like this was going to be the winning partnership

But their partnership was only worth 10 runs in five overs when they broke it Yorkshire must have sensed that their victory margin would have been a lot greater.  Zaib’s 118 minute  patient innings ended when he went to drive Duanne  Olivier but edged him to Kohler-Cadmore at first slip who took an ankle high catch.  Zaib was mad at himself because he was kicking the ground in frustration long  before Kohler-Cadmore  had taken the catch.  At this point Northamptonshire still needed after 74.

On four, Gareth Berg bottom edged Olivier and the ball was heading to Kohler-Cadmore at first slip but Tattersall dove in front of him but couldn’t hold on to the ball.  Berg flat batted Thompson to the cover boundary.  Three balls later he drove Thompson to the long on to take the required runs to below 50 could Berg and Parnell see  the visitors home, but  they did see them to lunch.

Willey got his second wicket of the innings in the fourth over after lunch to break the partnership between Parnell and Berg which had added 32 in 15 overs.  Berg tried to drive Willey but Berg’s outside edge found Tattersall.  

Parnell added one to his lunch score when he had a firm slash at Patterson but Kohler-Cadmore at  first slip couldn’t hold the chance, if he had we would have been spared the dramatic closure.

Tattersall couldn’t hold on to a widish delivery from Willey and the ball ran to the boundary.  In the next over Tattersall conceded four more byes this time standing up to Patterson.

With 14 runs needed Simon Kerrigan edged a short ball from Olivier into the chest of Lyth at second slip. Before last man Sanderson could face a ball heavy rain drove the players off the field.  The umpires took an early tea at 3.00 and play resumed at 3.29.
Sanderson smashed the second ball from Olivier to the cover boundary. Now Northamptonshire looked favourites.  Parnell took charge to take Northamptonshire to victory.

Yorkshire’s victory moves them to second place in group 3 six points behind Lancashire.