Yorkshire v Hampshire at Headingley County Championship Div 1 April 10-13
Neil Whitaker reports
Day 1April 11, 2026 12:47 pm
HAMPSHIRE’S Sonny Baker took three wickets in five balls in his third over to even the first day with Yorkshire at Headingley after they had been dismissed for 251.
Baker, bowling around the wicket, angled one in at Sam Whiteman who was leg before on his knee roll. After bowling two short balls to night watchman Ben Coad, he played on. Baker got his third wicket of the over when he bowled James Wharton with an inswinging yorker.
Jake Lehmann said: “That was some spell, wasn't it? three wickets in five balls. He’s got the amazing ability to put energy on the ball. He loves everything fast.”
Earlier George Hill took five for 46 after Yorkshire had put them in. He got his first wicket in the penultimate over before lunch when he got one to come back at Tom Prest and wrapped him on his pads. After, what seemed like an age, umpire Martin Saggers raised his finger.
On 11 Prest survived a caught behind appeal off Jack White but umpire Saggers was unmoved. On 22 he edged Hill but ball fell well short off Adam Lyth at second slip.
Hampshire captain Ben Brown was Hill’s second leg before victim. He moved across his stumps and thought he had got a long way down the pitch and was disappointed with umpire Saggers’ decision, but he did get a full stride in. On one Brown was squared up by Jack White, who took his outside edge but the ball fell short off Finlay Bean at third slip.
Cody Yusuf only pushed half forward to Hill and was wrapped on his pads and was leg before. Three balls later Kyle Abbott pushed forward and became Hill’s fourth leg before victim.
His last victim was former Yorkshire player Lehmann who top scored with 76 on his first match at Headingley since he left in 2016. But he had a big yahoo at Hill but found Dom Bess on the mid-wicket boundary edge.
Early in his innings Lehmann clubbed Matty Revis to the long-off boundary. When Revis switched to the Kirkstall lane end there was no respite because Lehmann thumped him to the long-off boundary. He cut Revis to third man for a single to bring up his 50 from 66 balls in 100 minutes with eight fours.
Hampshire didn’t open their account until the first ball of the fourth over when Nick Gubbins turned Jhive Richardson off his legs for a single. Four balls later Joe Weatherley feathered Richardson to stumper Harry Duke.
Gubbins passed 7500 Championship runs during his innings. He drove Richardson to the extra cover boundary to bring up Hampshire’s 50 in the 22nd over. Later he drove Richardson straight to the long-off boundary.
After lunch Gubbins had a torrid time against White, who induced him to play and miss a few times but when Gubbins pushed forward at White he got an outside edge and the ball flew to Bean at third slip. Gubbins’43 came from 92 balls in 140 and included seven fours.
Lehmann was joined by former England under-19 captain BenMays who in contrast to Brown’s innings took the fight to Yorkshire. And as the saying goes when the sun is out at Headingley it’s the best time to bat and for Hampshire the runs flowed quickly under the sun at Headingley.
Mays pulled Richardson to the square leg boundary and he clipped the next ball to the mid-wicket boundary. He drove a half volley from Hill to the cover boundary and drove the next ball to the long-on boundary.
He thumped Revis to the square leg boundary to bring up the 50 partnership with Lehmann off 58 balls. On 29, Hill found the edge of Mays bat but the ball dropped short off Bean at third slip.
He played back to Bess and with disdain pulled him to the mid-wicket boundary and a century looked on for Mays. But he fell victim to the classic off-spinners delivery when he played around a ball that turned in at him from Bess and was bowled. He added 88 in 16 overs with Lehmann.
Coad took the edge of Dawson’s bat and Duke took his second catch of the innings. Eddie Jack edged White but Duke couldn’t hold on to the chance and the ball flew to the boundary. He drove Coad off his back foot to the cover boundary to bring up the Hampshire 250. Three balls later he lost his off stump to a Coad yorker.
Abbott and Yusuf dried the Yorkshire runs up and in the 11th over Bean left one that Abbott bowling around the wicket swung in.
Lehmann added: “I feel like I fought hard and tried to play the situation the best I could. I would have loved to try and get a few more at the end when there was a tail, but, you know, that's the way cricket goes sometimes. We are in the game, you know, having them having them four for 40 overnight. We've got to rock up tomorrow and it's a really important session. Hopefully the clouds roll in tomorrow.”
Yorkshire made two changes from the side at Cardiff stumper Duke came in for the injured Jonny Bairstow and Aussie Richardson made his debut replacing Logan Van Beek.
Day 2
ON a day of stop/starts the match swung towards Hampshire who ended the day with a lead of 167 with eight second innings wickets standing after they had gone wicket less before lunch
There were five rain interruptions with 24 overs lost; the first stopped play 17 minutes before the scheduled lunch interval, the umpires decided to have lunch and then came the carnage for Yorkshire.
After lunch Yorkshire lost six wickets for 53 runs in 16.2 overs and that included a 20 minute stoppage for rain. Things looked so different before lunch when overnight batsmen Adam Lyth and Matty Revis had added 76 to their overnight score.
Then in the second over after lunch it unravelled for Yorkshire. Revis and Lyth brought up their fifty partnership in 32 overs and with the next ball Kyle Abbott sent Revis’ off stump cartwheeling out of the ground. Revis’ 40 came from 86 balls and included eight fours.
Lyth’s 222 minute stay at the crease ended in Abbott’s next over when he feathered Abbott to stumper Ben Brown. The Yorkshire opener had faced 175 balls and he hit 10 fours.
Abbbot got his third wicket for 10 runs in 3.5 overs when he moved one in off the seam and kissed the top of George Hill’s off stump.
After surviving a strong leg before appeal off Abbott, Harry Duke drove the next ball to the cover boundary but he never looked secure during his innings. Despite coming in above his captain Bess who looked in control it was Bess who was the next to go when he cue ended a cut off Liam Dawson to stumper Brown.
Duke played a loose shot to Sonny Baker and Brown dove to his right to take the catch. Jack White never looked safe facing two balls, which he backed away from and then Cody Yusuf sent his off stump cartwheeling out of the ground for a duck.
Logan Van Beek, who replaced Jhive Richardson because of illness, took a couple steps down the pitch to Liam Dawson and drove him straight to the boundary.
Both Abbott and Baker took four wickets all from the Kirkstall lane end. Abbott's four wickets cost him 49 runs and Baker took four for 45 runs.
Abbott said: “Obviously, we’ve still got a lot of batting to do to really push that lead up. But anything past their first innings score you always feel that you have got the upper hand. We knew that if we got one wicket we could get five or six quite quickly, which happened.
But I think it's a great cricket wicket, chatting to our batters it’s one you feel like it rewards good cricket. Hopefully if we continue batting well into tomorrow afternoon, we’ll get our reward for our patience.”
The start of the second day was delayed because of early morning rain. The rain may have stopped but it was a cold day to watch the cricket and maybe the ball didn’t swing as much of the cold weather.
Because of his three wickets in the evening session on the first day Baker continued to bowl downhill from the Kirkstall road end and Abbott changed to the Howard stand. Lyth drove Abbott to the extra cover boundary and in the next over drove Baker off his front foot along the ground to the cover boundary. He glanced Cody Yousuf off his legs to bring up his fifty off 130 balls with seven fours.
Revis drove Abbott to the cover boundary to bring up the 50 partnership up with Lyth in 16 overs. He drove Baker off his back foot to the extra cover boundary.
The Hampshire openers Joe Weatherley and Nick Gubbins patiently set about their task of seeing Hampshire to the close without any loss but they were interrupted by another rain delay. When they came back out Weatherley was back in the hutch after he pushed forward Van Beek and was adjudged leg before for 11 from 71 balls.
In this match Gubbins has looked well organised and kept the scoreboard moving. But he fell two short off his 50 when he edged Van Beek to stumper Duke. But Gubbins didn’t move and umpire Martin Sagers was’nt sure and consulted his partner David Millns. The result was that Gubbins was out.
Lyth said: “It was a tough day. I thought this morning, myself and Revis played well to get through that first hour. Then, just after lunch, we weren’t quite good enough to get through a very good Abbott spell. He bowled exceptionally well. There were three nice balls, to be fair. On the first night three in an over nearly killed us. Then, the three wickets he got after lunch put our backs against the wall.
It was nice to get the two wickets tonight, but it was a very frustrating day. It’s quite a difficult one to sum up. It actually turned into quite a nice wicket when myself and Revis were batting this morning. The sun was out, and scoring was quite easy. But Abbott’s spell broke it up.”
After the first day’s play both James Wharton and Revis were awarded their first team caps. The presentations took place in the Hawke suite in front of their team mates. Revis received his cap from captain Jonny Bairstow and Wharton received his cap from former captain Steve Patterson.
Revis,24, made his debut for Yorkshire in 2019 and Wharton, 25, made his debut for the club in 2022. Both players represented the England Lions during the winter.
Day 3
HAMPSHIRE captain Ben Brown hit his fourth Championship century against Yorkshire before he declared, setting Yorkshire 426 to win at the close they were 65 for five.
In another rain interrupted day Hampshire added 258 runs for the loss of three wickets. With Jake Lehmann he added 182 in 30 overs. Brown looked busy from the moment he came to the crease and soon overtook Lehmann, who was on 21 when Brown came in and Brown reached his fifty first.
Brown said: “It was really enjoyable to bat with him. Him andTom Prest laid the foundations, it was bad luck for Prest being run out the way he but Lehmann played a fantastic knock.”
Brown top edged a wristy cut off Ben Cliff over the slips’ heads for his first four. He launched Dom Bess’ first ball of the innings over long-on for a six. He cut George Hill above gully to the third man boundary. He opened the face of his bat to Matty Revis and guided him to the third man boundary. A thick edge off Revis took him to 50.
He went down the pitch to Revis and pulled him to the mid-wicket boundary, the square leg umpire David Millns or substitute Charlie Taylor on the mid-wicket boundary saw it.
Brown slog/swept Bess over the mid-wicket boundary. In the next over he clipped Van Beek off his toes for a six over square leg. He brought up his century when he swept Bess over the square leg boundary for a six. His hundred came off 108 balls with four sixes and nine fours. He got a couple of the next ball and then declared.
He added: “We had half an eye on the weather, there were some bad forecasts, we were keen to drive the game forward to try and win the game. We had a positive mindset and we came out to try to score as quickly as we could, and if it did rain, we would still have that sort of option to declare. And in the end, the weather held, which was really fortunate.
At 11.39 we had the first stopage for rain, when they were about to resume 36 minutes later and they were off again for rain. After the second rain stoppage Lehmann guided Logan Van Beek to the third man boundary. A couple of balls later Prest thumped Van Beek through mid-wicket for a couple to bring up his fifty with seven fours off 60 balls.
In Van Beek’s next over Prest was run out in the most frustrating way when hit Van Beek full toss straight but the bowler got his fingertips on the ball on its way to smashing into the stumps. Prest was run out but he didn’t stretch to get his bat over the line.
Lehmann hit the next ball straight but this time he missed Van Beek and got a boundary. Lehmann turned and had a rye smile on his face. He drove Cliff straight powerfully and the ball raced to the boundary in the blink of an eye.Lehmann cut Bess to point to bring up his fifty from 89 balls with six fours. He pulled Bess to mid-wicket to bring up the hundred partnership with Brown off 124 balls.
He bent down in the first over after tea and slogged Van Beek over square leg into the East stand for a six, another 14 came off the remaining five balls. In Van Beek’s next over Leahman pulled him to the mid-wicket boundary bisecting two fielders on the boundary edge. Just as it looked like Leahman would reach his hundred before Brown clipped Van Beek off his toes but found Bean on the deep backward square leg boundary.
Ben Mays came in and immediately drove Van Beek over his head for a straight six, he only added another three before the declaration came.
Night watchman Sonny Baker lasted 16 minutes on the third morning before he tried to turn Van Beek to leg but got a leading edge and the lobbed up in the air and Bess ran in from mid-wicket to take the catch.
Yorkshire had to bat the session out without losing a wicket but they lost two within five overs. They lost Adam Lyth to the last ball of the first over when he poked at Abbott and the ball flew to Mays at second slip. Abbott got his second wicket when Sam Whiteman left a straight ball and lost his off stump.
James Wharton and Finlay Bean looked solid adding 47 in 17 overs before Wharton played around a ball that Jack angled in at him and was plumb leg before.
Abbott his third wicket of the session when he angled one in at Revis and then left him knocking his off stump out of the ground. Two balls later night watchman Cliff missed a straight ball was leg before for a duck.
Brown said: “When we bowled, I thought we'd probably lose some time for bad light and then we were lucky that the weather was great. You know, the sun came out and Abbott ran riot. I don't really know how you play him when he finds a little bit in the surface.”
Van Beek said: “I think that in the second innings, we just never had it from both ends with the ball. One guy was holding an end and the other end was kind of leaking a bit. That’s hard as a bowling group. “It was disappointing because there was a point when they were 160 ahead for the loss of three wickets and we thought, ‘We can maybe keep them under 250-260 if we bowl well here’. That would have been a chase.
“But they played well, and it was a frustrating day. The weather kind of summed up our frustrations. Abbott is the consummate pro. It’s just his ability to hit full-of-length, hit the stumps constantly, nip it both ways and keep coming as well. It's relentless, and just shows what a classy bowler he is.
It was nice to get a bit of reward with the ball. I’m probably going to be needed for a bit more with the bat than last week’s spell at Glamorgan, where it was about 15 minutes at the end. But there's no reason whatsoever Bean and Hill can’t put on a big partnership and take a lot of time out of the game.”
Jack White became the second Yorkshire player to be substituted in the match because of sickness and was replaced by Cliff.
Day 4
HAMPSHIRE bounced back from their innings defeat to Essex last week to beat Yorkshire by 214 runs with 56 overs remaining in the day to leave Yorkshire bottom of the first division of the Rothesay County Championship.
Kyle Abbott took two more wickets in the morning session and he finished the innings with 6 for 21 and match figures of 10/71 his best figures against Yorkshire. His previous 10 wicket haul against Yorkshire was 10 for 116 at Scarborough in 2022.
When Finlay Bean pushed forward at Abbott and was plumb leg before in the second over of the morning the Yorkshire members were thinking that the match would be over before lunch time.
Somehow the rest of the Yorkshire batsmen took the game beyond lunch. George Hill top scored with 52. But Hampshire had the chance to get rid off him when he was on four when he edged Sonny Baker but Tom Prest dropped a comfortable chance at first slip.
That chance gave Hill the confidence to attack the Hampshire bowlers. His backfoot drive off Cody Yousuf to the cover boundary brought up the 50 partnership with Captain Dom Bess in 11 overs. In the second over after lunch Hill launched Liam. Dawson into the Howard stand for two sixes. The second of which brought up his 50 off 86 balls with those two sixes and seven fours.
Four balls later he was back in the hutch adjudged leg before to Abbott with a straight ball just clipping his bails.
For Hampshire Yousuf bowled with plenty of pace and had both Hill and Duke ducking during their 26 run partnership but Duke did drill him to the cover boundary.
Duke’s innings ended when he helped a short ball from Baker straight to Eddie Jack at fine leg who didn’t have to move a foot.
Bess joined Hill, and Bess had a torrid time against the pace of Baker and Jack. First, Bess flicked a bouncer from Baker on to his helmet. Three balls later he was hit in the unmentionables and rolled about in agony. In the next over he was hit again on his helmet, this time by Jack. He finally put bat to ball when he squeezed Baker out to the point boundary. He welcomed Yousuf back into the attack by driving him off his front foot straight to the long-off boundary.
Yorkshire Head Coach Anthony McGrath said: “He had two mighty blows from two deliveries from Baker. He's fine, it's just the nature of the beast.”
After lunch Bess drove Baker to the cover boundary. Then he tried to work left arm spinner Dawson to leg but got a leading edge and chipped it to Baker at mid-off.
Logan Van Beek swept Dawson to the square leg boundary to bring up Yorkshire’s 200, but Dawson wrapped the Yorkshire innings up when he bowled Ben Coad with one that kept low.
Hampshire head coach Russell Domingo said: “I am really pleased with the performance after losing the toss and batting first but we got a competitive score of 250. That showed a little bit of what we're capable of and in some tough conditions.
Abbot’s been an incredible bowler for Hampshire for 12 years now and every time he bowls he looks very affecting. It was an immense performance by the senior bowler.
Prest also did well and has had a couple of good games and is playing nicely and was unlucky with the run out.”
McGrath added: “There were warning signs last week. I think I spoke down at Glamorgan about how we played down there with a few worrying signs with a bat, a few with a ball. Unfortunately they've continued this week really. The performance was well below our standard. We've shown a few flashes, so the week off probably comes at a good time.
We’ve lost wickets in patches. We’ve been short in the basics of the game and we've been way short. That's a disappointing thing. If I was a supporter watching that, I'd be thinking, what the hell have these guys been doing for the last six months? Because it looks like we've just forgotten how to play, which is, which is not great, but that's obviously not the case. We showed a little bit of resolve today. But as I say, we've got to make sure that when we start again, against Sussex, that these two performances don't happen again for the rest of the season.”
Hampshire CCC won by 214 runs with 56 overs spare.