Warwickshire v Yorkshire County Championship Div1 at Edgbaston May 8-11

Neil Whitaker reports

Day 1

JACK  White took four for 49 as Warwickshire were dismissed for 147, on a pitch that offered plenty of seam movement, with  the other wickets  shared between Ben Cliff, George Hill and Logan Van Beek who each  took two wickets.

Only three Warwickshire batsmen reached double figures and one of them was Ethan Bamber batting at number ten who was last man out for 28. For the third time this season Yorkshire won the toss and put the opposition in.  Warwickshire lost their first wicket to the fifth ball of the morning when Alex Davies pushed at White who  found his edge and Adam Lyth at second slip  took the catch moving to his left. Worse was to follow when Dan Mousley edged a loose drive off White and Harry Brook, replacing Joe Root in the side, at first slip took a comfortable catch in his midriff.

Of the top order Warwickshire batsmen Sam Hain was the only one to show any resistance.  He drove Van Beek to the extra cover boundary after hitting the previous ball to the cover boundary.  Hain clipped White to mid wicket for a couple to bring up his 50 from 79 balls with seven fours.

Yorkshire got rid of Hain when White, with Jonny Bairstow standing up to him, got one to leave him and take the shoulder of his bat to  Brook at first slip who took a comfortable catch at chest height.  His 57 came from 97 balls.  Cliff said: “When  Bairstow stood  up for White,  I did think that  this is probably how we would get him out and it worked.”

Bamber had a big swing at Van Beek and belted him over long-on for a six. He took a liking to Van Beek, two overs later he pulled him over square leg for another six.  He took a couple of paces down the pitch to White and lofted him straight for a one bounce four and scooped the next ball over fine leg for another boundary.  But his fun ended when he walked across his stumps to White missed the ball and was leg before with the ball aiming for leg stump.

Rob Yates soon followed Davies back to the hutch when he followed one from Cliff, nibbled at it and Bairstow took a regulation catch.  In the last over before lunch Zen  Malik gave a simple return catch to Cliff but he couldn’t hold on to it but the rebound would have run Hain out at the bowler’s end but Hain hadn’t moved. Malik drove Cliff over point to the point boundary.  But his innings ended when he  played a nothing shot at Cliff, in the side instead of Jhye Richardson, found his edge and Bean at third slip took an easy catch.


Beau Webster drove over a ball from Hill and was bowled.  After a couple of big swings and misses, Michael Booth edged a big swing at one that came back in at him from Hill taking  the inside edge to Bairstow.

On three Ed Barnard nibbled at one from Van Beek and edged the next ball on to his helmet. He had a wild swing at Van Beek and edged him to Bairstow.  Former Yorkshire player Jordan Thompson tried to turn Van Beek to leg, missed the ball and was plumb leg before.

Lyth tickled one from Oliver Hannon-Dalby to stumper Davies.    In the next over Bean was leg before to Bamber, bowling around the wicket, when he was hit on his back pad.  It could have and should have been worse for Yorkshire when James Wharton edged Hannon-Dalby to Yates at second slip but he dropped the sitter.  That drop could prove to be vital in the  outcome of the match.  Despite the eagerness of the Warwickshire bowlers they couldn’t get the same amount of seam movement that Yorkshire bowlers did.

With the floodlights on, Matty Revis was promoted ahead of captain Bairstow.  But he didn’t last long,  Hannon-Dalby angled one in at him and was leg before.

With the crowd expecting Brook to go down the pitch to his first ball but he showed some patience and waited until his fourth ball which he creamed Bamber  to the extra cover boundary.  Brook  top edged Booth over the slips for a six at third man.  In no time he and Wharton added 63 in 12 overs until Wharton edged a drive off Thompson to Yates at second slip.

Cliff added: “ I said to White when we came off  if ever I think about what I have to do I’ll just watch and see what you are doing.  I'd like to think of tomorrow, some sunshine in the morning, it'd be a good day to bat.”

Hannon-Dalby said: “Yorkshire bowled very well, especially White and Cliff. They put us under a lot  of pressure, although I think we are a little bit disappointed to be bowled out for 147. It is a lively pitch but, on these surfaces, getting up to 200 is the sort of score you want and we could have done that if we were at our  best. It is disappointing to be bowled out for such a low score, but there is plenty going on with the ball. However well you bat, there are good balls in there and if, as a bowler, you sit around forward length and top of off-stump, there are good balls there.

It was nice to put on a few runs with Ethan. I really enjoyed it. It was nice to be out there with Bamber and I obviously didn't score a lot of runs but he did so I was pleased to be able to hang around to enable that to happen. Hopefully the 30-odd we put on will prove useful in a low-scoring game."

Day 2

WITH the sun out on the second morning with Jonny Bairstow and Harry Brook at crease and plenty of time left in the game  everything looked set for Yorkshire to get a big lead.

That was the plan and for the first  20 minutes it was working. Brook quickly  found the boundary, driving Ollie Hannon-Dalby to the cover boundary and late cutting Bamber to the point boundary.  Bairstow clipped Ethan Bamber off his legs to the square leg as they added 25 in four overs.  

Yorkshire then proceeded to lose six wickets for 15 runs in 15 overs.  Brook and Bairstow’s partnership of 36 was broken when Brook  drove inside a full length ball from Bamber and lost his off stump. In the next over Bairstow left one from Hannon-Dalby that came back and like Brook lost his off stump.

Dom Bess pushed at Hannon-Dalby and edged him to Rob Yates who took a low catch at second slip,

George Hill effortlessly drove Ed Barnard to the cover boundary to take Yorkshire into the lead.  Yorkshire needed Logan Van Beek to stick around with Hill as long as possible but that went out of the window when Van Beek walloped Jordan  Thompson straight to Dan Mousley at cover.

Barnard got his 350 first-class wicket when Ben Cliff threw the kitchen sink at a ball that swung out  edged it and Yates at second slip took his third  catch of the innings moving to his right and falling.

Hill edged a drive off Thompson and Yates took a low catch moving to his right to give Thompson his 200  first-class wicket. Thompson finished with three for 14 and another former Yorkshire player Hannon-Dalby took four for 38

Trailing by five Yates and Alex Davies guided Warwickshire to lunch without any loss but after lunch they thumped the ball to boundary particularly Cliff.

Van Beek was brought into the attack and in his first over he was dispatched for four boundaries.  After two overs he had gone for 30 but he wasn’t helped by some bad Yorkshire fielding.

Yates reached his 50 from 67 balls with 10 fours.  With Davies he added 95 for the first wicket before  Davies got a leading edge to Matty Revis and the ball flew to Finlay  Bean at cover.

The left-hander  late cut Cliff to the point boundary and placed the next ball to the extra cover boundary.  His  158 minute innings ended when White angled one in at Yates and seamed away taking the shoulder of his bat and Brook at first slip took the catch in his midriff.  He hit 16 fours from 104 balls.

Dan Mousley reversed swept Bess to the third man boundary.  He slashed Brook over Hill’s head at gully on its way to the third man boundary to bring up the 50 partnership with Yates.

In the final session the sun disappeared and the boundary count  almost dried up  aided  by Brook who bowled seven overs for 22, his longest spell in first-class cricket three years.  But Mousley and Hain kept the scoreboard moving with singles. Mousley clipped Revis off his legs to bring up his 50 from 96 balls with nine fours.  After adding 87 with Hain, he  pulled Van Beek and Revis a few yards in from the fine leg boundary, had to dive forward to take the catch.

Yorkshire batting coach John Sadler said: “We  had a poor hour with the bat, to put it bluntly really, when we got the ball in our hand we had a poor hour as well.  So it’s been a poor day.  I think we bowled well in stages  but we couldn’t get it right.  But we got some control back but the damage was done by then.

The pitch has had three heavy rollers in a very short space of time and that causes the pitch to flatten out. It's gonna be a tough ask, but we did it at Somerset.  We came back and played some incredible cricket.  So there's no reason we can't do it again, but it's been tough.  But any side with Bairstow and Brook can achieve anything.”

Day 3

YORKSHIRE face an uphill battle to salvage a draw out of this match at Edgbaston against Warwickshire after been set 549 to win at the close of todays play they are 98 for five.

They have already lost Harry Brook and captain Jonny Bairstow.   Brook thumped a return catch to former teammate Jordan Thompson who caught it in his follow through.  Thompson was the most surprised person in the ground that he had caught it.  Brook looked to have calmed things down with a fourth wicket stand of 59 with Matty Revis after Yorkshire had slumped 14 for three in nine overs. Bairstow was 

bowled by Warwickshire captain Ed Barnard for  a duck when he got one to come back at Bairstow who for the second time in the match offered no shot.

Yorkshire bowling coach Mick Lewis said: “The boys are disappointed the way they've actually gone about it the last two days, both batting and  bowling. On Friday, we were  in a really good position, and then to squander that  early yesterday morning was disappointing.  The boys are trying.  It's just unfortunate, some breaks  don't go  our way, which seems a common theme at the moment.

It’s  going to be a hard challenge for us, but we’ve  still got some batting  in the shed, and the two at the crease  now are playing beautifully at the moment, you never know what could happen.

We'll turn  up again tomorrow, have a smile on our face, and hopefully, it's not sunshine, it's raining from the heavens.”

Warwickshire declared at tea-time so that they didn’t loose any overs and set Yorkshire the task of batting for four sessions to save the match or hope for rain.  Yorkshire lost opener Finlay Bean trapped leg before to one that Ethan Bamber bowling around the angled in at him.

James Wharton was bowled by Bamber with that left Wharton.  Bamber got his third wicket when he trapped Adam Lyth leg before.  Warwickshire should have had the  prize wicket of Brook when he top edged a pull of  Barnard to mid-wicket but both Michael Booth and Zen Malik collided and the ball was grounded and both players had to leave the field.

Yorkshire started the day with a surprise by opening the bowling with  Brook and Revis and they also delayed the taking of the new ball they struck with the fourth over when Beau Webster was leg before to Hill.

Hain was joined by  Bernard who destroyed the Yorkshire bowlers by hitting three sixes but as he lived by the sword he died by the sword he pulled Logan Van Beek to Ben Cliff on the fine leg boundary.

Malik was steady at the start but eventually he picked the pace and with Hain they added 116 in 29 overs.  At one stage it looked like the only way that Yorkshire would break the partnership was by a run out.  Malik would place the ball past a fielder and set off for a run and then change his mind with Hain who had to stop and turn back.  Surprisingly Malik was dismissed by walloping Dom Bess to Bean on the extra cover boundary.

But the lynchpin of the Warwickshire innings was Sam Hain who hit his 20th hundred of his career and was unbeaten on 164 when the declaration came.  He said: “We were always going to declare at tea so that we had 32 overs at them tonight.  I’ve had a couple of 90’s this season and everyone was talking about the next 90 but I got a hundred.  My wife and the little one were here as well, which is quite special.

Even though I'm not sure he probably knew what was going on.”

He added: “We just had to trust whatever the wicket was doing, whether or not it was flat or not, you have just to  go out and  believe that there's enough balls in there.”

Day 4

IT took Warwickshire 96 minutes on the final day to take the five remaining Yorkshire wickets to beat by 377 runs, their second highest victory in terms of runs.

For Yorkshire it was the second heaviest defeat in terms and their highest defeat after they had taken first innings lead.  Former Yorkshire player Ollie Hannon-Dalby took three wickets as Yorkshire found it hard to play him.

Yorkshire head coach Anthony McGarth said: “On day one I thought we backed up the  Somerset game  really well. We controlled the game well but  from Saturday morning we were third best.

We were  really disappointing with the bat and particularly with the  ball and we were comprehensively beaten. Full credit to Warwickshire they showed us how to bowl on that pitch.  If you hit the top of off stump you got your rewards but we couldn’t get any pressure from both ends.

We  used our heavy roller on the  first night, and on the  second day  so we didn't have any left after that.  But the  rollers are irrelevant if you bowl short, and wide.

I'm not really going to be  go  too hard on them  as I did earlier in the season, because  that was more of a wake up call,  I think, after nine innings in a row with the  bat, and  ball, we know where we are and there are players who are  well  below and we know who they are.”

Warwickshire’s Ethan Bamber who took six wickets in the match for 96 said: “After our first innings we knew that it was going to be difficult but  we pride ourselves on being able to bow in any conditions and  if we were   able to exploit those, that we could try and set the game up at least as kind of a one-innings  game going into that the third innings.

And our thoughts in our second innings  were, we just take our time  and we just do our skills even  if it  takes 100 overs.  I thought our batsmen were  phenomenal. To be able to do that on that surface was  so impressive. There were class all the way through with the different batting tempos and navigating difficult periods.  It was outstanding.

The batsmen said  ‘there's still good balls in there, but you felt you could score if they missed and we just need to be really ruthless.’

Our dressing room is very happy. It’s  a really good win, really clinical performance,  so the lads are very happy.”

Play on the final day was delayed for 15 minutes because of rain and four overs were lost. Matty Revis clipped Bamber off his toes to the square leg boundary to bring up Yorkshire’s hundred.  He added 14 to Yorkshire’s overnight score before he edged a drive off Hannon-Dalby to give Rob Yates another catch at second slip.  Revis had defied the Warwickshire bowlers for 146 minutes for his 41 with seven fours from 93 balls.

Hannon-Dalby got his second wicket of the session when  Logan Beek poked at one without moving his feet and Yates took his sixth catch of the match at second slip. George Hill was squared up by Bamber who found his edge and Sam Hain at first slip took a comfortable catch at first slip.

Dom Bess smashed  Bamber to the extra cover boundary. After playing and missing at Beau Webster,  Bess finally connected and swept him for a six over long leg and drilled the next ball one-handed to the cover boundary.  Ben Cliff was bowled by Hannon-Dalby yorker that sent his off stump cartwheeling out of the ground.  Jack White backed away from Jordan Thompson and top edged him to stumper Alex Davies.

SCORECARD