Yorkshire v Durham County Championship Div 1 at Headingley September 24-27

Neil Whitaker reports

AN unbroken eighth wicket partnership of 77 between two bowlers Ben Raine and Matthew Potts swung the day Durham’s way.

From the moment he came in Raine  tore into the Yorkshire bowlers with big hitting and hard running between the wickets as if it was a T20 match.

Raine  went down the pitch to Dom  Bess and launched him over long-off for a six. He  hit his second six when he slog/swept Bess over square leg.  Raine  blasted Jordan Thompson to the extra cover boundary. Even after the departure of David Bedingham, with whom he added 42 in nine  overs Raine carried on in the same vein and his 50 came from 58 balls and included two sixes and seven fours.

He  steered George  Hill just wide of Finlay Bean’s outstretched left hand to get another boundary.  Raine launched Hill over long-off for his third six.  He clattered Jack White into the Howard stand for a massive six to bring Durham’s 300.

Potts got into the act when he drove White to the  extra cover boundary. On seven Potts edged Hill but Jonny Bairstow diving to his right couldn’t hold on to it.  He brought up the 50 partnership with Raine which came from 50 balls when he drove  White to the cover boundary.

Yorkshire’s Hill took two  wickets and a spectacular catch as Yorkshire looked to be in command until Raine came in.  Durham’s Ben McKinney, who was Hill’s first victim, started by driving White for consecutive boundaries through extra cover.  He also drove Thompson, playing  his last match for Yorkshire, to the extra cover boundary but not as forcefully.  His drive off Hill to the extra cover boundary was his shot of the morning.   But the next ball he edged Hill to Bairstow.

Durham went from 152  for four to 156 for five in three overs when  Ollie Robinson left one from Hill that came back and glanced his off stump.

Hill’s spectacular catch saw the end of Durham’s top scorer David Bedingham.  The South African fell seven runs short off his first Rothesay Championship century of the season.

Bedingham dug in, determined to get a big scor, drove Hill off the back foot to the cover boundary.  Then he clipped Thompson off his toes to the mid-wicket boundary.  On 33 he edged Bess and the ball  missed the stumps, Bairstow on its way  to the third man boundary.

He  late cut Bess to the third man boundary to bring up his third 50 Championship 50 of the season 195 balls with six fours. Later another  late cut off Bess brought up the hundred partnership with Rhodes off 161 balls. Bedingham pulled. Matt  Milnes to the square leg boundary.

Just as his first Championship century looked a certainty, Bedingham top edged a pull off White and Hill ran from first slip to 10 yards from the third man boundary to take a spectacular catch.

He said: The way it started, we definitely would have taken that. I think they bowled excellently all day and didn’t miss much.  But for Potts and Raine  to show their fight and counter-attack like that at the end shows you that we’re still in the game. We have a big three days ahead.

I thought the pitch was quite slow, but the way their bowlers bowled was quite special. They didn’t miss much and had energy on the ball. But, like I said, to be 322-7 at the end of the day is quite a good effort.

I’ve  struggled a bit this season, so it was quite a nice feeling to be in control for most of the innings. I’m happy with 93, but the way I felt I would have liked to still be batting. But that’s kind of the way it’s gone for me this year. I’ve felt good but have found ways to get out. 

Rainey was amazing. Whenever they bowled a bad ball, he smacked it, which was quite cool to watch.”

The match had a dramatic start with Yorkshire getting rid off both Durham openers inside six overs.  Durham captain Alex Lees who won the toss and elected to bat was the first to go.  He was squared up by  Matt Milnes, playing his last match for Yorkshire, who kissed the shoulder of Lees’ bat and Bean at third slip took the catch.  

Without adding to the score in the next over  Emilio Gay edged a drive off White to Bean who took a low catch at third slip.

Former Warwickshire captain and Yorkshire player Will  Rhodes followed up his unbeaten 151 against Worcestershire last week with 50  as he shared in a fourth wicket partnership with Bedingham of 101 in 31 overs.  He  blasted White to the long-off boundary and then clipped White off his toes to the square leg boundary to bring up the 50 partnership with Beddingham off 108 balls.

Rhodes turned Hill off his legs to bring up his 50 from 96 balls with seven fours. In the next over he  chipped Bess to Wharton  at short mid-wicket.

Graham Clark hurried and scampered between the wickets  and blasted the ball to the boundary as he did to Milnes and Bess.  But after adding 47 with Bedingham, Clark moved across his stumps,  swung against the line and the ball was arrowed in on leg stump according to umpire Steve O’Shaughnessy.

White said : “We started well, everyone went under three at the start unfortunately we kept it go at the end.  Tomorrow we’ve got to finish them off early.  At the moment the pitch isn’t doing too much, we've just got to keep going.”

Before play started a minute’s applause was held in memory of former club President and Test umpire Harold ‘Dickie’ Bird whose death was announced  yesterday.

Day 2

THE Headingley sunshine suited India Test player Agarwal as he  hit his first century for Yorkshire making 175 after two dismal matches.

He added 127 for the second wicket in 34 overs with Adam Lyth.  In  the morning session Agarwal was hampered when he was hit on his left arm by Daniel Hogg but he made it  to lunch scoring only five in 10 overs.  After lunch both Lyth and Agarwal grew in confidence against the Durham attack both regularly finding the boundaries.  They had a scare when Lyth on 27 top edged a pull off Hogg and Matty Potts running 15 yards  across from mid-on got under the ball but couldn’t hold on to the chance but  Lyth and Agarwal got a couple to bring up their 50 partnership.

Agarwal  delicately late cut Will Rhodes to the point boundary and he ran Ben Raine down  to the third man boundary to bring up Yorkshire’s  hundred up in the 34th over.

His innings was a mixture of the delicate and brute force.  He went down the pitch to  Shafiqullah Ghafari and deposited him into the Howard stand for a straight six to bring up his 50 from 83 balls with six fours.

He said : “I am just really happy to have contributed to the team.  We’ve had a brilliant day and it will be even better if we can follow it up tomorrow with a couple of good sessions.”

Agarwal went down the pitch again  to Ghafari and launched him in the Howard stand for his second six, two balls later he repeated the shot with the same result.  He ended the over with a straight four. He late cut  Ghafari to  the third man boundary and  clattered a short ball from him for  a six over mid wicket. He  brought up his century as he did with his 50  with a six as he did his 50.  His century came from 122 balls with  four sixes and 11 fours.

He added: “All the Durham bowlers bowled well, they were disciplined and full credit to them.  So we decided that if we could soak them up, my partnership with Lyth was crucial. We had to grind it out and we fed off each other’s energy.”

When he reached his century he ran amok. On 139 he hooked Potts straight to Ghafari  on the fine leg boundary but he dropped the chance.  He  backed away from Potts and flat batted him for a straight four.  Off  the next ball he got a couple to bring up his 150 from 176 balls with five sixes and 17 fours. He toyed with Durham fielders once too often when he tried to Ghafari for another six he found Clark on the long-on boundary.  His 175 came from 195 and he added another three fours.

Agarwal said: “ I just wanted to knock him off his rhythm.”

Lyth cut Hogg to the   boundary and pulled Raine to the square leg boundary with disdain to bring up his 50 from 102 balls with six fours.  In the next over he pulled Ghafari to the square boundary to bring up his 13th Rothesay Championship 50 this season.

On 58 Durham thought  Lyth had edged Raine to stumper Ollie Robinson but umpire Steve O’Shaughnessy was unmoved. 11 runs later  Lyth chipped Potts just out of the reach of Potts’ right hand.  Without adding to his score Lyth  pushed at Ghafari and edged it. The ball hit Robinson,  looped over him and Potts at slip took the catch above his head.  With Agarwal he added 137 for the second wicket. 

After tea James Wharton missed a straight ball from Raine and was bowled.  Raine got a hattrick when Jonny Bairstow edged a drive without moving his feet to Robinson.

On the second morning Raine and Potts had to carry on from where they left off on the first day but before play had been going for 20 minutes Durham had lost two wickets so Raine had to get runs and keep Shafiqullah Ghafari away from the strike.

Somehow he did both.   He completed  his second first class century for Durham, his first was against Worcestershire in 2023 when he made 103.  He was the last man out as Yorkshire took the final three wickets for 24 runs.

He clipped Matt  Milnes off his legs for a six over square leg.  On 97 he  drove Jack  White to Dom Bess in the covers who put the chance down.  He clipped Milnes to square leg and scampered a couple to bring up his century from 101 balls with five sixes and 10 fours.  In the next over he edged a big drive off White and the ball flew to Hill on the third man boundary.

Potts added eight to his overnight score before he played around one from White  and lost his middle stump.  With Raine he added 77 valuable runs for the eighth wicket. Four balls   later Hogg played down the wrong line to White and  lost his  off stump.

White finished with five for 69  his best figures for Yorkshire. Agarwal added: “I am really pleased for him and the way he prepares himself has impressed me.  He’s been putting in the hard yards and I am really pleased for him and he has put us in this position.”

After his exploits with the bat he turned his attention to the ball when bowling around the wicket he angled one in at Finlay  Bean and trapped him leg before.

Raine said: “It’s probably not the day we were hoping for, but sometimes you come across some great innings. Agarwal’s innings today was a fantastic knock. We put down a couple of chances through the day. I think we put him down on 130 when he got 170-odd. We’re rueing those missed opportunities. But, as a bowling unit, we’ve given it our all and battered the house down.

The game’s still very much in the balance moving forward, and there’s a lot to play for over the next two days. We were behind the game a bit when I came  in (last night), so the innings has a lot of meaning because of that. It moved the game forward a bit, and we were able to score quickly.

I really don’t want this club to be relegated. I’m desperate for us to be playing Div One cricket next year. So to play a part in keeping us in this fixture, I’m over the moon with the knock.”

Day 3

ON a cold miserable autumn Friday Yorkshire’s George Hill added 63 to his overnight score to reach  88, his best score of the season, to put Yorkshire in a commanding position against Durham.

He said: “I’ve saved the best till last.  We wanted to bat till tea and with the bad light we achieved that.  I thought we did it  with a professional performance with the bat and all the lads batted responsible.  We treated every ball with respect and played  it on its merit, cricket is a simple game.  Our aim is to win this game of cricket tomorrow.

I’ve not scored as many runs as I  would have liked but we’re  a close  bunch of lads here, we’ve  had a great couple of months  and we want to play for each other and not for ourselves.

I thought the Durham bowlers kept coming in  and full credit to them.”

He glanced Daniel Hogg off his legs to the fine leg boundary to bring up the 50 partnership with  Matt Revis which came from  20 overs. And that was that for the partnership as Revis missed a straight ball from Ben Raine and was plumb leg before.

Hill  drilled Matty  Potts to the mid-wicket boundary to bring up his 50 from 105 balls with seven fours.  He delicately placed Will Rhodes wide of stumper Ollie Robinson and Ben McKinney at first slip to the third man boundary and cut Hogg to the same  boundary.

He fell 12 short off a century when he had a big swing at Shariqullah Ghafari missed the ball and was bowled.

Dom Bess went back to Ghafari and late cut him between Robinson and Alex Lees to the third man boundary to take Yorkshire into the lead. On 18 he pulled Potts to Hogg at the fine leg boundary.

Jordan Thompson blasted Potts for a straight four to get him off the mark. He picked Rhodes off his toes and planted him for a big  six over mid-wicket.  After hitting Ghafari for a six  over mid-wicket  Matt Milnes  edged a drive off the next ball to Potts at slip.

Bad light stopped play three times, the third time   was terminal for the day with Yorkshire leading by 119 with one standing.

Throughout the day the Durham players looked and played as if they knew their first division life in  the first division of the Rothesay County Championship was over  until 2027.

There was no  life in their  fielding which  was poor, David Bedingham misfielded a  few yards from the boundary and he wasn’t quick enough to react.  No one backed Ben Raine, Ghafari wasn’t penetrating enough despite  his  wickets he bowled too many loose balls.  Potts kept running in but couldn’t get a wicket. And  even the light was against Durham when three times it  drove the players off the field when Durham needed to be on the field as long as possible.

But by the end of the day the news from Southampton that Surrey need one more wicket for the victory which  would keep Durham in the first division of the Rothesay County Championship would made the atmosphere in the Durham dressing much happier.

Durham coach Ryan Campbell said: “We’ve got a sleepless night but this game hasn’t gone as we expected.  It’s a flat wicket and the boys have bowled manfully.  I thought Ghafari showed some promise and he bowled to one of the best Indian batter’s around but we’ll have to bowl well to take another 11 wickets on that pitch.  And taking 20 wickets in a match has been a problem for us recently but it’s a funny game.

We’ll play the game as we normally do and people know that we like to score runs quickly and entertain the crowd, so we’ll come tomorrow expecting to win a game of cricket.

I think the County Championship is a fantastic game and if you don’t play well in this competition you get found out. It’s a beautiful game and it's got to be looked after. You had an opportunity to change it  and  I think that it’s disappointing that it hasn’t been changed.”

Day 4

YORKSHIRE  beat Durham by an innings and 44 runs to relegate the north east county.

Durham had to survive for 89 overs to stay in division one of the Rothesay County  Championship but they were dismissed in 45 overs for 85.  They lost their last eight  wickets for 54 runs   in 18 overs. Doing the damage for Yorkshire were George Hill who took four for 14 and Dom Bess took four four 22.

Yorkshire’s head coach Anthony McGarth said: “It was an amazing hour, it just shows what pressure can do.  We knew this morning that there were a few permutations so we just focused on batting as long as possible and bowl Durham out.  This afternoon was a testament to the lads and the  support bowlers.  Hill was incredible with the ball and he’s delivered all season.

We took it down to the last match of the season which you don’t want to do but we’ve got first division cricket next year.”

Durham’ s Head Coach Ryan Campbell said: “I can’t explain it. It’s just a total capitulation. Unfortunately, it’s happened a few times this year. The pressure went on and our blokes couldn’t stop it. Obviously, there’s a room full of gutted people. We were handed a lifeline and we didn’t take it.

I’ve always said that we bat at our best when we look to score. When you look to score, you get yourself into better positions and make better decisions. I think, obviously, there was a very defensive mindset of trying to get through. What then happens is that if you lose a couple of wickets, you haven’t gone anywhere. 

The facts are that we were 120-odd behind when we started, and we needed to get rid of that as quickly as we could. That takes courage to back your skills and ability, and that’s something we’ve always done. But today was one of those days that will probably go down in Durham’s folklore of hanging our heads in shame. 

We’re going to have to rebuild and come back bigger and better next year.”

Yorkshire started the day on 465, a lead of 119 with one first innings wicket standing. Jack White got off the mark when he drove a full toss from Shafiqulla Ghafari past the bowler to the boundary.

Jordan Thompson blasted Ben Raine to the long-off boundary to bring up his last Rothesay Championship 50, for Yorkshire before he moves to Warwickshire,  from 112 balls with 12 fours and a six.  In the next over he drove  Raine straight to Durham captain Alex Lees at long-off.  

Raine finished with five for 76 becoming the fifth Durham player to hit a century and take five wickets in an innings.  The others were Phillip Bainbridge against Yorkshire at Headingley in 1993,  Ben  Stokes against Hampshire  at the Rose Bowl in 2011, Paul Collingwood against Somerset at Taunton in 2015, and Scott Borthwick against   Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in 2016.

Just as Yorkshire were waiting to take the field  for Durham’s second innings news came through that Surrey had beaten Hampshire and Yorkshire would be playing in the first division next year.  Durham had to draw this match to stay in Division One.

Durham were still 105 behind when Emilio Gay pushed forward  at Hill bowling around the wicket when he got an inside edge and Jonny Bairstow took the catch going down the legside.

Still 100  behind Durham lost  Lees in the third over after lunch when he fell to the classic off spinner’s delivery to a left hander.  He pushed forward at Bess, bowling around the wicket, who took his edge and Bairstow took his second catch.

David Bedingham timed an on-drive off Thompson to perfection as it kept two fielders interested till it crossed the boundary.  Later he drove Thompson off the back foot to the cover boundary. He hung his bat to the next ball and was caught behind.  McGarth added: “I thought  Bedingham’s wicket was the vital one.

Ben McKinney offered no shot to Thompson, was hit on his front pad and was  leg before.  Ollie Robinson tried to turn Hill off his legs but missed the ball and was leg before.

Hill got his 50th wicket of the season when Graham  Clark cut him to Myank Agarwal at backward point who took the catch in his midriff.

Raine went down the pitch to Bess and skied him to Matt  Revis running  from mid-off.  Matty Potts glanced Bess to Finlay Bean  at short leg.  Next ball Daniel Hogg got a faint edge to Bess and Bairstow took  another catch.  The match was wrapped up when Hill bowling around the wicket, angled  one in that kept low and Wil Rhides was plumb leg before.

The win  means that Yorkshire have been unbeaten in their last seven matches. 

McGarth added: “I’ve enjoyed being back at Yorkshire and it’s been a challenge and so it should be but the lads have given everything.  I believe that we’ve got the nucleus to have a competitive team. We’ve  got a really good group of players and hopefully we can improve.  We're a bit light in the bowling department so we need to add depth to  that.  We need to be  more consistent in white ball cricket.”

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