Yorkshire v Middlesex County Championship Div 2 at Headingley August 29-September 1st
Neil Whitaker reports
Day 1
AN UNBROKEN sixth wicket partnership of 130 between Jonny Bairstow and George Hill gave Yorkshire a slight advantage in this second plays third match in the Vitality Championship second division at Headingley.
At the close Bairstow was unbeaten on 107 and Hill was 58. Adam Lyth said: “Today I saw a hungry Bairstow and he won’t be giving his wicket away tomorrow. He played beautifully last week at Scarborough and today he’s carried that form on. We have seen Bairstow at his best, today was a special knock. The big players turn up for the big moments and he showed his class.”
Bairstow reached his century when he drove leg spinner Luke Hollman to the long-off boundary. His century came from 122 balls with nine fours and two sixes. It was his first century for Yorkshire since May 2016 when he hit 198 against Surrey. Since then he has scored 11 centuries for England but none since 2022.
He was typically busy from the moment he came in and edged Toby Rolland-Jones gracefully along through the vacant slip area to the boundary. On 12 he had a life when he edged Hollman and stumperJack Davies should have caught it but the ball rebounded off his thigh and wrong footed Ryan Higgins at slip who had moved to his left and the ball dropped out of his reach.
Hollman said: “It would have been nice if that one had stuck.”
Bairstow drilled Hollman to the extra cover boundary and he pulled a short ball from Henry Brookes over square leg for a four. He was watchful as he inched through the 40’s but then he stepped on the gas making long singles into two’s.
He effortlessly pulled Rowland-Jones over mid wicket for a six to bring up the hundred partnership off 146 balls with Hill.
When he came into bat Yorkshire had lost Lyth, Finlay Bean and James Wharton all of whom had made starts but none reached more than 61 and that was Lyth who made 61. Bairstow was at the crease for only 22 minutes when another player who made a start but failed to capitalise on it, Will Luxton was out for 31 there was almost a collective groan from the Headingley faithful.
Bairstow was joined by his captain Jonny Tattersall who Yorkshire to tea without any further loss. Brookes dragged one down to Tattersall who pulled it to the square leg boundary. Tattersall hit consecutive boundaries off Higgins through mid-on and the next cut to the third man boundary.
In the first over after tea and Leus Du Ploy’s second over of the match the partnership was broken after adding 57 when Tattersall top edged a sweep and Higgins at slip moved to his left behind stumper Davies to take the catch.
After a couple of overs Bairstow and Hill found runs easy to come by. Hill’s first boundary was a bit lucky, he pulled Du Ploy to Hollman on the square who had the ball covered but after bowling 23 overs the ball slipped from his grasp and over the boundary. Hollman was removed from the attack allowing Bairstow and Hill to milk the runs on Du Ploy and Sam Robson.
Hill drove Tom Helm straight to the long off boundary and he repeated the shot a couple overs later. He reached his 50 from 77 balls with six fours and a six when he turned Helm off his legs to the square leg boundary.
Yorkshire won the toss and decided to bat on a sunny morning the Yorkshire openers Lyth and Bean made a brisk start hitting five boundaries in the first 15 minutes.
A straight drive by Bean off Noah Cornwell, a 19 year-old left arm seamer, on Vitality Championship debut was the shot of the morning. After an hour’s play Middlesex finally got a breakthrough after they had chased leather when Bean tried to pull a short ball from Brookes but missed it and the ball crashed into his leg stump.
Wharton got off the mark with a straight drive off Brookes and in the afternoon session he pulled Hollman for a big six into the East stand over mid-wicket. Before he became Hellman’s second victim when he tried to cut a ball that was too close to him to cut, top edged it and Higgins took a sharp catch at slip.
Lyth drove Brookes to the extra cover boundary to bring up his 50 from 57 balls and included 10 fours. His late cut of Brookes brought the Yorkshire hundred up in the 23rd over. He tried to cut a ball from Cornwall but was hit on his hand and had to receive treatment but in the next over he was on his way back to the hutch when he played back to leg spinner Holman and was plumb leg before.
Luxton off the mark with a drive of Cornwall to the mid-wicket boundary. In the afternoon session he drove Hollman straight for a one bounce four into the Howard stand to bring up the 50 partnership with Wharton. He pulled a short ball from Hollman into the mid wicket boundary but he too became Hollman victim when Luxton pulled him to Robson at mid-wicket.
Lyth added: “It’s been a very good day, we won the toss on a used pitch. We’re playing two spinners so the ball should turn and it should be an exciting three days ahead. But the pitch is one of the flattest Headingley pitches that I’ve seen.”
Hollman also said: “It would have been nice to have them six or seven down but Bairstow batted beautifully, dry much faultlessly. It’s nice to play a pitch that offers the spinners something early on. And I thought I bowled well enough to get the rewards.”
The match is the third round of fixtures with the Kookaburra ball.
Day 2
GEORGE Hill hit an unbeaten 169, his highest Vitality Championship score, and his first century since he hit 101 against Gloucestershire last year on a day when the records kept fell at Headingley.
With Jonny Bairstow, Hill added 238, a record sixth wicket partnership for Yorkshire against Middlesex. The pair knocked Wilfred Rhodes and Maurice Leyland, who added 190 for Yorkshire’s sixth wicket against Middlesex at Bradford in June 1923 out of the record books. That record was broken when Hill turned Tom Helm off his legs to square leg for a single.
The partnership was broken when Bairstow was bowled when a short ball from Luke Hollman didn’t get up as far as he thought. His 160 came from 198 balls in just over five hours with 14 fours and two sixes.
Hill said: “Full credit to Ottis Gibson for keep picking me, I’ve not had a problem with my technique, it’s been a mental problem but yesterday and today I just went out and didn’t think about my technique I just went out and batted, I just wanted to be selfish and on a pitch like you’ve got to make the most of it while you can and batting with Bairstow helps. We ran quickly between the wickets and they had a few tired blokes out there.
I am my own worst enemy when things go wrong and theres a lot of head noise going on in my head. I just thought about see ball, hit ball. But if I have to bat at number eight I will.
Tomorrow if we can get the ball reversing then we’ll be in with a shout. If we can keep them down to three an over that would be perfect. We know that we have a variety of options, if we stay together we’ll get the wickets.”
Yorkshire’s 601 for six declared was their highest score against Middlesex beating the 575 for seven declared they made at Bradford in 1899. Their 601 was their highest First-Class score for nine years. It was Yorkshire’s seventh highest total at Headingley.
Bairstow’s 160 means that for the first time Bairstow, Harry Brook and Joe Root have all scored Championship centuries in the same season for Yorkshire.
On 60, Hill survived a stumping when Holman fired one in at his legs which Hill missed but stumper Jack Davies couldn’t gather the ball. He went on to hit his fourth Vitality Championship century and he pulled Helm to the square leg and helped by a misfield that allowed the ball to cross the rope, Hill not brought up his century but also the 200 with Bairstow.
Bairstow majestically lofted Henry Brooks to the extra cover boundary to bring up the 150 partnership with Hill. Five runs later Middlesex thought they had broken the partnership when Hill pushed forward at Hollman and edged it and Ryan Higgins at slip claimed a low catch while stumper Davies thumped the air with delight. Hill didn’t move, Higgins said he was sure the standing umpire Mark Newell confirmed with Rob White at square who ruled that the ball hadn’t carried.
After that the runs came easily:Bairstow’s effortlessly drilled Helm straight and Hill beautifully late cut Hollman to the third man boundary.
Hill delightfully drilled Helm of the back foot to the cover boundary as he and Bess quickly added 54 in 30 minutes after lunch. Hill punched Leus Du Plooy for a couple to bring up his 150 from 236 balls with 15 fours and two sixes.
Dom Bess reversed swept Hollman and the ball was going easily to Noah Cornwell at point but the spin wrong footed him and the ball ran to the point boundary. He became the fourth Yorkshire batsman to pass 50, his, came from 65 balls with five fours. He swept Hollman for a six over mid-wicket into the East stand for a six. Bess hit another four to take Yorkshire past 600 and then they declared.
Needing 452 to avoid the follow-on Middlesex openers Sam Robson and Mark Stoneman battled through to tea. Yorkshire started in the field with an umbrella field with six men in front of the wicket, and captain Jonny Tattersall replacing Bairstow who was stumping last week at Scarborough.
By the eighth over spinners Dan Moriarty and Bess were brought into the attack. In the fifth over after tea Yorkshire got a breakthrough when Stoneman pushed at Bess, bowling around the wicket brushed the face of Stoneman’s bat and Adam Lyth at slip took the catch.
Max Holden late cut Bess through the slips to bring up the Middlesex hundred and it was noted by a wag in the crowd that it wasn’t as quick as any of ours. Patience was the attribute that Middlesex needed to use to take time out of the game to save it. It was Holden who clipped Lyth through mid-wicket to bring up the 50 partnership with Sam Robson.
Robson somehow managed to get Moriarty away down the legside to bring up his 50 from 105 balls. With Holden, Robson saw it to the close unbeaten on 65 and Holden was not out on. Middlesex 460 behind but still needing another 311 to their first target of saving the follow-on.
Middlesex bowling coach Tim Murtagh said: “Anytime you play on a pitch like this with a ball like this it’s hard but to get to the end of the day with just one wicket down is great.
Headingley is a quick scoring ground and full credit goes to Hollman who bowled a lot and did a great job. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll bat long time.
We’ve still got two days to play and our batters are looking forward to batting as long as they want to do. We’ve got two experienced openers who have been in this position before.”
Day 3
MIDDLESEX’ Ryan Higgins passed 1,000 Vitality Championship runs for the season as he hit his fifth Vitality Championship century of the season and was unbeaten on 117 at the close.He reached his ton in the grand manner when he smashed Dan Moriarty for a six. His ton came from 185 balls and included 13 fours and that six. He became the first batsmen to reach 1,000 Vitality Championship runs for the season when he drove Moriarty straight to the boundary.
Higgins went down the pitch to Dom Bess and blasted him to the long-off boundary. He hit consecutive boundaries off Bess using the reverse sweep: the first through point and the second through third man. Sam Robson said: “He has been amazing for two seasons and he has been outstanding this year, he just goes out and gets the job done.” Bess said: “He’s a fantastic player and once a player like him gets in, it’s hard to get him out.”Another long day in the field under the Headingley sun for the fielding side as again the hybrid pitch and the Kookaburra balls were the real winners of the day.
Off spinner Bess and left arm spinner Moriarty for the majority of the day with Bess taking three wickets to go with his wicket yesterday. Bess said: “It’s been a tough day but days like that shows character. I am glad I am bowling Championship overs. The boys were fantastic and I am really proud of them and I think we’ve completely outplayed Middlesex.On a slow pitch it’s the skill of making the ball spin and today I changed a couple of things but I am proud that I’ve bowled on a pitch like that and I know that I can do it again.I enjoy bowling with the Kookaburra ball but it’s tough when the pitch is hard and slow. I am pro spin but the game in this country is not set up for spinners. On the hard pitches when the ball spins the batsmen have time to adjust to the spin.”Yorkshire started the day with Jordan Thompson attacking both Max Holden and Robson with umbrella field’s with a leg slip, leg gully, two short mid-wickets and a silly mid-on. But after three overs Thompson was replaced by George Hill, who bowled only three overs in his spellRobson completed his century but fell short of the125 he made against Sri Lanka for England in the Headingley Test match of 2014. He vigorously pulled Moriarty to the square leg boundary to go into the 90’s.
Robson reached his century, which came from 195 balls and included 14 fours. when he pulled Moriarty to the mid-wicket boundary.He said: “Playing here brought back happy memories of when I played for England, getting a Test century here gave me great confidence.”He looked certain he would at least get 150 but he fell 34 minutes before lunch. His wicket was the second and final wicket to fall in the morning session when he was leg before to Bess playing a French cricket shot and was plumb. In fact it was so plumb that Robson was almost walking back to the hutch before the umpire's finger was up. Robson added: “ Anytime the first team gets 600 you are under the cosh, we’ve still got a lot of work to do and get past the follow-on. It’s been an exhausting couple of days on a slow and flat wicket. The pitch is starting to spin but slowly. I am pleased that we are in a good position to save the match. For us it was all about drawing the game. When you’ve got men around the bat it’s hard for the new batters, but it’s been a great effort and hopefully we can keep batting tomorrow.”Holden reached his 50 when he pushed Bess out into the covers and he pinched a quick single. His came from 139 balls and included four fours. He only added a single when he pushed at Bess with his bat away from his body and edged him and Tattersall took a regulation catch. Before then the only way that Yorkshire looked taking a wicket was with a run because both Robson and Holden were unclear and hesitant in their running.
One would get halfway down the pitch while the other one stood still at the other end.Yorkshire took the new ball after 81 overs with spinners Bess and Moriarty bowling with it six overs before lunch. Ben Coad, who bowled four overs on Friday, returned to the attack in the second over after lunch and got a wicket in his third over when Leus Du Ploy drove him straight to James Wharton at short cover. Wharton stuck out his left hand out as he fell to his right and the ball stuck. Immediately Coad was taken out of the attack.Jack Davies got off the mark when he drove Moriarty to the cover boundary. The young wicket keeper who hasn’t had the best of scores with the bat enjoyed driving Moriarty through extra cover. One more to the boundary and another one brought him a couple.
He went down the pitch to Moriarty and lofted him over mid-on just out of Jonny Bairstow’s reach and the ball ran to the boundary. Two balls later Davies pulled Moriarty to the mid-wicket boundary.Davies reached his fourth First-Class 50 when he drove Bess into the covers for a single. His 50 came from 104 balls with eight fours. He fell eight short off reaching his best score of the season when he gently edged Bess bowling around the wicket to Adam Lyth at slip who took an easy catch. The 128 he added with Higgins in 40 overs eased any that Middlesex had about avoiding the follow-on. At the close Middlesex still need another 12 to save the follow-on.Day 4
THANKFULLY bad light caused the match to be abandoned as a draw at 4.27 which means that Yorkshire and Middlesex are in dog fight for one place to get promoted to the Vitality Championship first division. The first three days saw 1042 runs scored for the loss of 11 wickets but on the fourth morning Middlesex lost five wickets for 81 runs in 94 minutes under the floodlights at Headingley. Yorkshire in their second innings scored 150 for two in 35 overs. Yorkshire Head coach Ottis Gibson said: “It was a difficult four days. We wanted a pitch which spun which it did but it was low and slow. The cricket wasn’t amazing to watch but if we don’t lose we’ll get promoted. It’s going to be a dog fight between us and Middlesex. Everyone here is invested in getting promotion and we are in a great position to get promoted, we will if we keep playing positive cricket.” Dom Bess took three of them and Ben Coad the other two. Middlesex lost their first wicket of the day to the last ball of the second over of the morning without adding to their overnight score when Luke Hollman pushed forward at Bess, edged it and Jonny Bairstow at second slip took the catch at the third attempt. They saved the follow-on when Ryan Higgins danced down the pitch to Bess and drilled him to the long-off boundary. Higgins' mammoth innings ended just after noon when he was comprehensively bowled by Coad in the sixth over with the new ball losing his off and middle stumps. He faced 259 balls in 331 minutes and hit 22 fours and a six. Coad got his second of the morning session when Middlesex captain Toby Roland-Jones had a big swing at him and Coad made a mess of his furniture. Tom Helm pushed at Bess and the ball ran across the face of his bat to James Wharton at short-leg. Bess got his seventh wicket when left-hander Noah Cornwall skied him and Jordan Thompson at long-off took a good diving catch. Bess ended with seven for 179 from 70.4 overs, the most expensive seven wicket haul for Yorkshire, beating the 7/147 by Wilfred Rhodes against Middlesex at Lord’s in 1899. But you have to spare a thought for Dan Moriarty who toiled away for 61 overs without taking a wicket. Gibson added: “I thought the spinners worked well together. Moriarty created a few half chances. If any of those had been taken his confidence would have improved and he would have had a better game. For Bess to get seven wickets he bowled fantastically well, tying them down but he and Moriarty did a great job for the team.” Middlesex’ total of 5222 was their highest score at Headingley beating the 516 for nine they made in 1995 Roland-Jones said: “I am proud of our effort. We had to get through as many overs and partnerships as possible to make sure that we did lose wickets in clusters so I am pretty happy with the way we played. I thought Yorkshire batted themselves into a good position. We didn’t want to be too defensive and there were a few dicey moments for some of our batters early on. We’ve got to find a way to get 20 wickets in the next round of matches with the Kookaburra ball and hopefully we’ll come up with a few ideas.” Leading by 79, Adam Lyth and Finlay Bean faced four overs before lunch without any problems. After nine overs leg break bowler Hollman was brought into the attack. He was slogged/swept by Bean for a six to bring up Yorkshire’s 50 in the 12th over. On 28 Bean top edged Hollman and it looked to be a sitter for Roland-Jones but it went over and out of his reach. It wasn’t an expensive miss, in Hollman’s next over he trapped Bean leg before playing back. Lyth pushed Hollman in the covers to bring up his second 50 of the match, this one came from 63 balls with nine four. On the stroke of tea Lyth drove Helm to Higgins at short cover. Wharton went down the pitch and hit Hollman for a six into the Howard stand. He drove Leus Du Plooy to deep mid-off for a single to bring up his 50 off 55 balls with three sixes and three fours.
August 30, 2024 11:25 am