Nottinghamshire v Yorkshire

Nottinghamshire v Yorkshire Bob Willis Trophy at Trent Bridge August 8-11th 2020

Neil Whitaker Reports

Day 1

LEEDS  born Jordan Thompson fell two short of hitting his maiden first class century for Yorkshire but he got them past the 200 mark which when he came into bat looked beyond them. 

He 20 off Samit Patel’s 17th over which saw Patel taken out of the attack. The over saw two sixes which went over cow corner the second of which was more squarer.  Patel was replaced by Jake Ball and Thompson clipped his second ball off his legs for a six over mid wicket.  He finished the over by pulling him for another six. Thompson got a bit  carried away by those sixes, had a rush of blood tried to hit another but he bottom edged Chris Nash to  Nottinghamshire skipper Steven Mullaney at slip. Nash ended with three wickets for 20 in 6.2 overs. 

Thompson, 23, reached his fifty with a shot which was identical to the shot that took him to 47, a streaky edge through the slips for a four. He got off the mark with a late cut off Matt Carter and in the  next over from Patel he played a delicate late cut  to the point boundary. 

On 37 he hammered the ball straight back  at Patel at head high who couldn’t hold on to it or prevent a boundary. 

Yorkshire got off to bad start and it got worse for them.  In the third over Adam Lyth played around a straight ball from Ball and was leg before in the third over. They soon slumped to 44 for four in the 20th over. 

Carter who came in for Joye Evison said: “Their top four is one of the better top four around. You look at them and say they could be a lot for not many.  Ball picked up Lyth cheaply which was ideal.” 

Jonny Bairstow came into the side at the expense of Will Fraine to remind the selectors of what their missing.  It took him 18 balls to get off the mark and he did with an ugly cover drive to the boundary.  He was soon back in the hutch.  Bairstow cut Zak Chappell, who replaced Tom Barber from the side that lost toDerbyshire. so fiercely that he thought he had another boundary and a certain recall to the Test side but he reckoned without Patel who didn’t have to move an inch as he took an head high catch. Jos Buttler in the  England dressing room at Emirates Old Trafford must have leapt in the air. 

Carter added: “For Chappell to get Bairstow as your first wicket for the club, you can’t get much better than that.” 

Dawid Malan looked confident until he nibbled at one from Chappell and Tom Moores took a low catch diving to his left.  

On 18 Tom Kohler-Cadmore cut Mullaney to Haseem Habeed at backward point but he couldn’t hold on to the chance.  The drop wasn’t too expensive because he only made another three runs before he was back in the hutch. Kohler-Cadmore tried to sweep Carter but gloved it and Mullaney ran from first slip to behind Moores to take the catch. 

Carter said: “That dismissal was really weird, I was appealing for leg before.  I thought we bowled really well and stuck together as a unit.” 

On five at lunch Harry  Brook quickly moved to 25 aided by five boundaires off Chappell in his first two overs after lunch.  His fourth boundary was the shot of this innings a peach of a straight drive. 

Brook  survived a strong leg before appeal by Carter on 35, he then rubbed salt in the wound ending the over by straight driving him to the boundary. 

After dominating the in the pre lunch session Jonny  Tattersall was easily out scored by Brook after lunch their 107 minute partnership was broken when Tattersall tried to sweep Patel and was leg before. 

Brook’s second fifty in a consecutive innings came from 88 balls with nine fours. He a big heave ho at Patel over long on for the first six of the match into the pavilion. 

When looking good for a century he pushed forward at the first ball of the last  over before tea from the very occasional off spin of Nash.  He was beaten by the turn and bowled through the gate.  Before that wicket Nash had only taken four wickets in five seasons.  Nash got his second wicket in his fifth over when Yorkshire skipper Steven Patterson edged him to slip where Mullaney took an ankle high catch . 

Brook said: “We turned it around after losing a few quick wickets and Thompson batted with quality to get us to a competitive score. He played really well.  At tea we we said we’d be happy with 250. 

It’s quite a slow pitch.  There is some rough outside the right handers off stump which should help our off spinners Jack Shutt and Lyth.” 

Patel should have got his second wicket in the first over after tea when Thompson on 32 edged him to Mullaney at slip but the Nottinghamshire skipper couldn’t hold on to it. He got his second wicket when Duanne Olivier played around a straight ball and was leg before. The Yorkshire innings was wrapped up when Jack Shutt played back to Carter and was plumb leg before. 

In their reply Nottinghamshire lost Nash when he played on to Patterson. Carter added: “If we can make inroads to their score and bat for the full 120 overs and get a good lead that would be the best case scenario.” 

Yorkshire won the toss and decided to bat. Olivier replaced the injured Matthew Fisher, also out injured was Ben Coad and his place was taken by Dom Leach making his first class debut. 

Day 2 

TOM Moores hit his best first class score of 106 beating the 103 he made against Somerset at Taunton in 2018 to put  Nottinghamshire in a strong position against Yorkshire leading by 91. 

Moores said: “My first hundred at Trent Bridge, it’s something very special to me.  It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a while and today was a great feeling.  There’s still a lot of cricket to be played in this game.  We have a lead of 90, but there are a lot of runs still left in that wicket.  The wicket is turning and I think that we can put them under real pressure.  We’ll be going hard at them tomorrow.” 

He reached his century with a square cut off Duanne Olivier to the point boundary, his ton included three sixes and he was the last man out bowled having a big swing at Steven Patterson. 

Moores reversed slogged Adam Lyth into the Smith Cooper stand to take Nottinghamshire into the lead and he followed that two balls later with a drive to the extra cover boundary. 

His seventh wicket partnership of 99 in 27 overs with Samit Patel rescued the Nottinghamshire innings after they had lost two vital players who had looked set to blast Nottinghamshire into a big first innings lead in the space of four overs.  

Moores added: “I love batting with Patel, he understands my game and is always encouraging me to be positive.   We had to dig in and build partnerships and when the time was right we had put our foot down.  I thought that all the top order batted really well.” 

Skipper Steven Mullaney hit his first first class fifty for Nottinghamshire since he hit 179 against Warwickshire at Trent Bridge last September and Peter Trego, they added 48 in 16 overs. 

In the final over before lunch Mullaney pulled Olivier over mid wicket into the Smith Cooper stand for a six.   He brought up his fifty with a delicate late through the slips to the third man boundary.  His fifty came off 79 balls with eight fours and a six.  Without adding to his score he tried to sweep Lyth missed the ball and was given out leg before on his front pad. 

It was a good job that he did make at least a fifty because he was completely responsible for the run out of Joe Clarke. Clarke who failed to reach double figures against Derbyshire looked set to get a  decent score today.  In the third over after lunch Mullaney played Patterson out on the off side and called Clarke through for a single.  JordanThompson ran round from backward point, picked up the ball and and his direct hit easily ran Clarke out knocking the leg stump out of the ground. 

After failing to reach double figures against Derbyshire last week,Trego looked set for a big score.  He cut Thompson for ten in an over, but  on 33 he tried for another square boundary but Jonny Tattersall at point got a hand to but couldn’t hold on to it.  Just when he looked set for a fifty he edged a drive to Harry Brook in the gully. 

The seventh wicket partnership was broken in a weird way.  Patel simply turned Dawid Malan into Brook’s hands at short leg.  It wasn’t the usual type of innings from Patel.  Earlier in his innings he pulled Olivier over mid wicket for a boundary.  After that it was block,  single and the odd couple. Moores said: “He is very good at getting off the strike.  

On 19 Moores underedged Dom Leach and the ball could have gone anywhere. It did, it deceived Jonny  Bairstow and ran to the boundary.  After Patel’s departure and reaching his fifty Moores was more busier between the wickets.  Batting with last man Matt Carter he reversed swept Malan into the Smith  Cooper stand for his second six. In the next over he deposited Olivier into the same stand when he pulled him for another six.  The shot that brought up his century also brought up the fifty partnership for the last wicket. 

Zak Chappell and Jake Ball both came and went scoring one run between them.  Chappell flashed at Thompson to give Bairstow an easy catch.  Ball became Malan’s second victim when he edged a drive into Lyth’s midriff at slip. 

When Patterson took the new ball Carter hit him into the Radcliffe road stand for a straight six. 

Nottinghamshire resumed the innings in overcast conditions but by lunchtime the sun had burnt its way through the clouds.  Haseeb Hamed doubled his overnight score with a beautiful cover drive and two balls later another beautiful drive this time through extra cover both off Olivier.  In Olivier’s next  over Haseeb  drove him for another four, this time straight past Olivier. 

Ben Duckett faced Patterson for 29 of his 31 ball innings but it was the pace of Olivier that got rid of him.  He fended off the second ball that he received from Olivier to Lyth at second slip who took a regulation catch. 

Leach got his  maiden first class wicket when Haseeb Hameed tried to turn him to leg but got a leading edge and the ball flew to Lyth at second slip.  The 19 year old from Middlesbrough had bowled two no balls earlier in the over. 

On 19 Clarke played dead batted the ball back to Leach who showed his fierce combativeness by picking the ball up and had a shy at the stumps knocking one of them out of the ground,luckily for Clarke he had made his ground. 

Olivier said: “Full credit to Moores,he applied himself well, and if our batsmen can do that then they can get big scores.  I still think that we have a chance in this game, it’s still a good wicket. One or two balls stayed low but we’ve got to apply ourselves and not think about it.” 

Day 3

JONNY Bairstow made up for his first innings failure by hitting his first first class fifty for 51 weeks.  

His last fifty made in a first class match was at Lord’s on August 15 against Australia in the second Test match. Confidently Bairstow got off the mark when he pulled Zak Chappell to the mid wicket boundary.  Then he was beaten twice in three balls by Chappell who brought the ball back into him. 

On 14 he edged Matt  Carter and the ball went through the hands of Steven Mullaney and the ball ran to the boundary.  He turned  Carter off his legs or a single to bring up the fifty partnership with Adam Lyth in 19 overs. In the next over he beautifully drove Peter Trego to the extra cover boundary just evading Ben Duckett at short cover.

A lap sweep by Bairstow off Samit Patel in the third over after lunch ran to the fine leg  boundary took Yorkshire into the lead.  A single pushed into the covers off the next ball took him to fifty from100 balls in 126 minutes with nine fours.

Bairstow brought up the hundred partnership with Adam Lyth in 34 overs with a late cut off Chappell which raced to the third man boundary. He pulled a short ball from Chris Nash with such disdain that it rocketed to the boundary. 

Nottinghamshire needed something special to dismiss him and they got it. He turned Carter off his legs and Haseeb Hameed stuck out his right hand at full stretch and took a great catch at short leg. 

In Carter’s next over Dawid Malan pushed forward and edged him, again Haseeb Hameed took the catch at short leg.  Yorkshire were now effectively 45 for four remember in their first innings Yorkshire were 44 for four. They had lost three wickets for one run in 16 balls and a lead of 150 looked beyond them.

Lyth played the supporting role to Bairstow but he did have his moments. He clipped Patel off his legs to the mid wicket boundary cutting Nash for a couple the bring up his first first class fifty since he hit Nottinghamshire for 81 at Scarborough last August.  He tried to drive Patel on the legside but got an outside edge and Mullaney took the catch at slip.  Lyth looked bemused at the decision and his dismissal sparked that mini collapse.

Trailing by 91, Yorkshire lost their first second innings wicket with only four only the board to Chappell’s first ball of the second over. Tom Kohler-Cadmore showed the full face of his bat to Chappell but didn’t move his feet across his stumps and edged to Carter at second slip who took a low catch.  

Chappell said: “It’s always nice to get a wicket no matter who they are but to get one at the start of your spell is nice because it gives you confidence and a bit more energy. We would have liked to have got Bairstow as well early on but he batted well.

After itching his feet to get after the spinners Harry  Brook went down the wicket to Patel and launched him over long on for a straight six. Brook and Jonny Tattersall added 50 in 17 overs and the partnership was broken with the second ball after tea when  Brook became Patel’s 350 first class victim.  His arm ball hit Brook’s pad and took the back edge of his bat as the ball rebounded to Mullaney at first slip.

Chappell added: “Our two spinners Carter and Patel are different types of spinners and they bowled well in tandem.  Carter gets plenty of bounce.  They kept Yorkshire’s run rate under control, but I thought that Yorkshire batted well.”

Nottinghamshire over rate was so good that by the time that  Brook was out there 26 overs left in the day but nearly two hours in time so there was a real possibility with three bowlers to come that the Yorkshire innings would be over soon and without much of a  lead.

But Tattersall and Jordan Thompson defended against the spinners’ and despatched the bad balls frustrating the bowlers.   They got Yorkshire to the new ball without any further loss.  Nottinghamshire took the new ball immediately it was due and surprisingly off spinner Carter was given it.  Thompson cut the first ball for three.  In Chappell’s next over Tattersall drove him to the cover boundary to bring up the fifty partnership with Thompson in 27 overs.

They only added another four when Chappell broke the partnership when Thompson edged a drive off him to Carter at second slip who caught it at the second attempt.  Four balls later Patterson edged a half  hearted drive to Tom  Moores.

Carter said: “They’ve got a young spinner so the pressure will be on him tomorrow.”

Yorkshire first X1 coach Andrew Gale said: “At the start of the day I asked the players to show some character and resilience and the lads stuck at it.  I was disappointed with that first hour on Saturday, it certainly wasn’t a 44 for four wicket.  We should have scored a few more run

Tomorrow if we can get a lead of 250 and get a couple of quick wickets Nottinghamshire could panic.”

Day 4

IN the end it was an easy victory for Yorkshire, 90 runs with 47.4 overs left in the day you would have got long odds on that happening on Saturday when Yorkshire were 44 for four.

A disappointed Nottinghamshire captain Steven Mullaney said: “I thought that we had a magnificent three days and half a session today.  I said before play today that the side that reacts better to pressure will win the game. Unfortunately it wasn’t us.  It was a below par  batting performance.

It’s disappointing but nobody feels sorry for you in this game, the games in this competition come thick and fast so we have to bounce back for our next game on Saturday.  We’ve had a chance of winning both games going into the final day but if you give a side like Yorkshire half a chance they will be all over you.  We all have to look at ourselves and see where we can improve.”

Yorkshire Captain Steve Patterson was both delighted and surprised at the way Yorkshire overturned the match to win. He said: “It’s been very pleasing. It’s been an interesting few days. After being 44 for four on the first day, we were in a precarious position. But the way Harry Brook played initially to help get us back to some kind of score with Jonny Tattersall was impressive. Then, the way Jordan Thompson (98 in the first innings) played at the end was fantastic. We ended up getting 50 more than we expected.

We knew with a young attack it would be hard work against an experienced Notts team. But we chipped away hard in that first innings.

We were a little bit disappointed with the end. The way Tom Moores played meant they got 40 or 50 more than we felt they should. A 90 run deficit going into the second innings was going to be tough, especially when we lost Tom Kohler-Cadmore second over but Adam Lyth and Jonny Bairstow showed their experience and quality to put us back into some kind of position. Then Tattersall with Brook and Thompson got us up to a score which we felt gave us a chance.

That was all it was initially, but we stuck hard at the task. They played it a bit differently to how we expected, and we ran out winners by 90 runs. I believe Nottinghamshire are one of the strongest sides in our group in terms of experience and ability but they are a team who haven’t won for a while. Sometimes when that happens, you almost forget how to win. I felt there was a little element of that in the fourth innings.

It wasn’t a huge chase, but the fact we put that pressure on and got a couple of early ones got us on top.  It was a bit surprising how it went at the end. We thought it was going to be a long slog and might get down to the last 20 runs. But for it to happen the way it did, we’re delighted.”

At lunch Nottinghamshire were three wickets down for 46, 77 minutes after lunch the match was all over. Nottinghamshire lost seven wickets for 36 in 12 overs as their two year wait for a first class victory at Trent Bridge goes on.

Doing the damage for Yorkshire was Duanne Olivier who took three for 23, including his 50th first class wicket for Yorkshire and his 450th first class wicket in total and Thompson who took three for six in five overs.  The other wickets were shared between Dom Leach, Patterson and Jack Shutt.

Needing 188 to win, Chris  Nash cut the first ball from Olivier to the cover boundary and it looked like Nottinghamshire would win easily. Then they lost both openers within 12 balls.  First,Nash was pinned back on his stumps by Olivier and was given out leg before on the leg stump. He became Olivier’s 50th first class victim for Yorkshire.  

Nash’s opening partner Haseeb Hameed soon joined him back in the hutch when he tried to clip the last ball tof the next over by Leach off his legs but found Jonny Bairstow.

After a five minute stoppage because Joe Clarke got hit on his helmet.  Olivier, resumed his over and his fourth ball after the stoppage reared up at Ben Duckett who fended it off to Dawid  Malan in the gully who took a great catch diving to his right to give Olivier his 450th first class wicket.

Mullaney uppercut Olivier over the slips for his first and only boundary as he soon  followed Clarke into the hutch when he nibbled at Patterson without adding to the score.

Olivier got his third wicket of the innings when he caught Clarke as he fell in his follow through.

Moores played over Thompson’s third ball and saw his middle and leg stumps out of the ground. Zak Chappell clipped Thompson off his legs straight to Shutt at mid wicket. Thompson got his third wicket in his next over when Matt Carter walked across his stumps,had a wild swing and was leg before to ball hitting his leg stump.

Thompson said: “We’re absolutely delighted in the dressing room,  before today the match could have gone either way.  I am very determined to do well  for Yorkshire when I get the chance I’ll take it.  I am enjoying my cricket at the moment.

In our first innings I helped to get a few runs and got us in a good position and we’ve won the game. With the ball the lads made it look easy all I had to do was run in.  When they were four or five down the pressure got to them.”

Shutt was called into the attack and with his fourth ball he got Peter Trego plumb leg before for his first first class wicket.  Yorkshire’s victory was complete when Samit Patel clipped Shutt off his legs to Malan at mid wicket

Without adding to his overnight score in13 balls Olivier edged Chappell without moving his feet to Moores who dove to his right. Leach top edged a sweep off Carter the ball went in the air and Mullaney took an easy catch.  Nottinghamshire wrapped the innings up four overs later when Tattersall on 53 top edged a reverse sweep off Carter straight to Mullaney at slip.

Yorkshire are now four points behind Derbyshire and the two meet on Saturday at Emerald Headingley.

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