Yorkshire v Northamptonshire at Headingley County Championship Div 2 September 27-30th
Neil Whitaker reports
Day 1
Yorkshire moved two points closer to securing promotion back to Division One of the Vitality County Championship as they took six wickets on the second day of their clash with Northamptonshire at Headingley.
Play got underway at 3.30 on the second day with Yorkshire captain Jonny Tattersall winning the toss and putting Northamptonshire into bat.
Before play started George Hill was presented with his first team cap, even though the official presentation took place in the dressing room on Thursday on a near deserted Headingley ground. He celebrated by taking two wickets for 17 and taking two catches.
Yorkshire got an early breakthrough in the third over when Gus Miller pushed forward at Ben Coad who took his outside edge and Hill at first slip took a comfortable catch at first slip at knee height to put Coad on 299 First-class wickets.
The two combined again to give Coad his 300th First-class wicket. Saif Zaib was squared up by Coad bowling around the wicket took the shoulder of his bat and Hill at first slip took a comfortable catch.
Coad said: “I am very proud. I made it my goal to get 300 wickets at under 20 runs. I can remember my first wicket for Yorkshire, I’ve seen it a few times and I was a terrible bowler and it fell a long time ago. Today I was struggling in my first spell but I came back and the ball that got Zaib was a very good ball.
Hill hasn’t taken a catch off me all season and today he has taken two. I think he goes under the radar and does the hard graft. He never complains as he always bowls into the wind. He is invaluable to the team and is incredible for us.
I thought we would get two points tonight and that would have been great but we have got three it’s been a great session for us.”
Coad, who ended the day on three for 29, got his third wicket when night watchman Fateh Singh, who signed on loan from Nottinghamshire for this match,drilled him to James Wharton at silly mid-off.
Northamptonshire captain Luke Procter got a faint outside edge to Hill’s fourth ball and played on. James Sales left one that came into him and his off stump to give Hill his second wicket.
Kruish Patel on his Championship debut for Northamptonshire drove a wide half volley from Matty Fisher to the cover boundary. Followed a couple balls later by another cover boundary. His first twenty runs all came in boundaries. His bright and breezy innings ended in a similar fashion to Miller’s. He pushed forward to Jordan Thompson who found his outside edge and Adam Lyth at second slip took a simple catch at second slip took a simple catch.
George Bartlett went down the pitch to Hill and clipped him to the long-off boundary to bring up Northamptonshire’s hundred up.
Northamptonshire sting coach Greg Smith said: “We were waiting around for a day-and-a-half, got told we were playing just over half an hour before and we lose the toss. We would have bowled as well. We lost a couple of wickets at the end there. Had we not, it would probably have been our session. But it was Yorkshire’s. It was tricky, but you never know. The sun’s hopefully out tomorrow, and if we can get a decent partnership, then the wicket will offer a bit for the seamers throughout the rest of the day.
Patel, I was really impressed with what I saw there. He was very composed, organised and hit the ball extremely hard. I think there’s definitely a player there for the future.”
Day 2
YORKSHIRE got the three batting points to secure their promotion back to Division One of the Vitality County Championship when James Wharton punched Saif Zaib off his back foot for a single to reach 350.The third day against Northamptonshire was dominated by Yorkshire as they got the three remaining Northamptonshire first innings wickets for 30 runs in 13.3 overs and then grinded the Northamptonshire fielders into the ground with a record breaking second wicket partnership of 260 in 53 overs.
Adam Lyth and James Wharton broke the previous Yorkshire second wicket highest partnership against Northamptonshire of 202 made in Northampton in 1978 by Sir Geoffrey Boycott and Bill Athey. Their partnership was broken when Lyth tried to sweep Fateh Singh, missed the ball and was hit on his back pad.
The pair came together when Finley Bean pushed at Ben Sanderson and edge him to stumper Lewis McManus in the fifth over and they rarely looked in trouble apart from when Lyth was on 106 he skied Fateh Singh over mid-on where Luke Procter turned with the ball coming over his shoulder and as he fell to the ground he dropped the ball.
Lyth reached his fifth championship century of the season when he pulled Procter to the square boundary where Krish Patel on the boundary edge had no idea where the ball was. His century came from 111 balls with 17 fours and a six. His innings was graceful and he kept finding the gaps to which the Northamptonshire fielders had no answers. Lyth gently eased Justin Broad off his back over square leg for a six. He drove Jack White through gully to the point boundary to bring up his 50 from 67 balls with eight fours and one six.
Lyth’s partner Wharton was in no mood to hang about as he showed his intent from the moment he came in. He got off the mark by driving Sanderson straight to the long-on boundary.Wharton drove White straight and the ball hit White’s leg in his follow through who had to leave the field his over was completed by Broad. White, a headband warrior in the mode of former Northamptonshire bowler Jack Brookes, came back and bowled the second over after lunch.
Lyth greeted his return to the action by driving him to the extra cover boundary to bring up the 50 partnership with Wharton.He started the afternoon session by driving Broad for consecutive boundaries through the covers. Wharton reached his 50 when squeezed Gus Miller to the third man boundary wrong footing Broad at first slip as the ball went past him. His 50 came from 81 balls with nine fours. As tea beckoned and with Northamptonshire wicketless since noon Wharton drove Fateh Singh straight for a six into the Howard stand. A delightful late cut off Procter took him into the 90’s, a straight drive off Procter to the long off boundary gave him his century.
Lyth celebrated Wharton’s century as if it was his. Wharton’s century came from 155 balls and included 15 fours and a six. He took a liking to Fateh Singh twice in two overs he rocked back and pulled him to the long-on boundary. He hammered a full toss from Saif Zaib over the long-on boundary for a six.When bad light ended play, Yorkshire were 224 ahead of Northamptonshire with Wharton unbeaten on 162.It took Yorkshire 59 minutes on the third morning to take the remaining four Northamptonshire wickets.
Ben Coad made the initial breakthrough in the seventh over of the morning when McManus forcefully clipped him off his legs to Dom Bess at leg gully. He thought he had hit it so well that he started to run. Coad finished with four for 51 and Matty Fisher took three for 46.Broad was beaten by an inswinger from Fisher and lost his leg stump. Former Yorkshire player Sanderson played across a straight ball from Fisher and was bowled.
Last man White backed away from Fisher poked at the ball and edged it to Jonny Bairstow. Fisher, who was wicketless on the second day ended with three for 46.George Bartlett was unbeaten on 64. He clipped the first ball of the day from Coad off his legs to the fine leg boundary. He reached his 50 when he lofted Fisher to the extra cover boundary. His 50 came from 80 balls and inc11 fours. He swept Coad for a six over square leg into the empty West stand.
Day 3
YORKSHIRE batted on and on and hitting their second highest Vitality Championship score of 726 for seven, a first innings lead of 579 before they declared at tea.Not only did James Wharton hit his best Championship score of 285 it was Yorkshire’s highest individual Yorkshire score made against Northamptonshire beating the 269 made by Sir Len Hutton at Wellingborough in 1949 and it was the fifth highest score made at Headingley.
He is behind Darren Leahmann, Sir Don Bradman(twice) and John Edrich in the list of highest individual scores at Headingley.Wharton pulled Jack White to the square leg boundary to take him past his previous best score for Yorkshire of 188 against Derbyshire at Chesterfield in July this year. He greeted the arrival of James Sales into the attack with a cover drive to take him past 200 which came from 272 balls with 25 fours and four sixes.
When he was joined by Jonny Bairstow they added runs at a pace that a declaration looked imminent but it never came. Bairstow quickly reached 19 by hitting four fours from 20 balls, the best of which was a gentle pull off Justin Broad. He smashed Gus Miller for three boundaries in one over to take Yorkshire past 450. Both Bairstow and Wharton smashed the Northamptonshire attack to all parts of Headingley and their hundred partnership came up off 59 balls.
Bairstow pulled Saif Zaib over the mid-wicket boundary to bring up his 50 from 58 balls with eight fours and that six.Wharton swotted Saif Zaib over the mid-wicket boundary for a six and hit the next straighter for another six. His 319 ball innings ended when he flat batted Fateh Singh to Broad on the long-on boundary. As he turned to leave, the Northamptonshire players ran to shake his hand. His 265 included 32 fours and 10 sixes. With Bairstow he added 194 in 25 overs.11 minutes after Wharton’s dismissal Bairstow was on his way back to the hutch when he was bowled by a straight ball.
His 78 included 20 and two sixes and came from 84 balls.Will Luxton added 12 to his overnight score falling one short off his 50 when he was beaten by the pace of White who is very reminiscent of the ex-Warwickshire bowler Paul Smith in appearance and run-up. Luxton and Wharton added 117 in 31 overs.Jonny Tattersall tried to cut Saif Zaib but it was too close to cut and was bowled. Dom Bess was leg before to Fateh Singh’s arm arm ball.The previous highest score against Northamptonshire of 673 made by Yorkshire at Headingley in 2003 was passed when Jordan Thompson clubbed Fateh Singh to long-on for a single.
George Hill drilled Said Zaib for a single to bring up his 50 from 61 balls and in the next over Thompson clubbed him over long-on to bring up his 50 from 43 balls.Northamptonshire lost their first wicket when Gus Miller pulled Miller and Bess ran in from the square leg boundary to take a boot hill catch. Fisher got his second and final wicket for Yorkshire before he leaves the club when Kursh Patel feathered him through to Tattersall. Fisher’s final figures for the club were two for 16 from six overs.Yorkshire's score of 726 was the highest score that Northamptonshire have conceeded in the Vitality County Championship.
Northamptonshire bowling coach Rory Kleinveldt said: “We were taught a proper lesson in how to set up a four-day game. They bowled beautifully on the first day and exploited the conditions nicely.We have had the tougher end of the conditions. On Friday it was dark and the ball was swinging around all over the place, on Saturday we pitched up and the sun was out. But, in saying that, they’ve outplayed.Our bowlers had some end of season niggles. Ben Sanderson bowled a lot of overs this summer and his knee is niggling him. Luke Procter is struggling a bit with his back. White took one on the knee early but has recovered from that nicely, which is good to see. It’s just tired bodies.
Fateh Singh impressed me with his variations, his flight and his pace. He didn’t miss his mark too often, which is encouraging to see, and I think he’s got a bright future. The way we’ve played over the last three weeks, the boys will want to go out and put in a performance with the bat to finish the season nicely. The season has been one of missed opportunities so we’ve got a lot of things to work on in the winter. Our batters have put their hands up all season.We came into the season wanting to get promotion. Not going out on a loss would be nice.”
Yorkshire Captain Jonny Tattersall
It’s class and amazing to get over the line. I don’t think we were looking at sealing promotion on Saturday. When we realised that They hadn’t started until after lunch, we thought it was going to be pretty tough for Middlesex to get a result.
We’ve had a pretty strong feeling for most of this game, but we’ve still got to go out there and do it. We did just that. Winning the toss and bowling them out fairly cheaply has put us in the driving seat, and Adam Lyth and James Wharton played class innings.
It’s always been a tight division with not a lot of wins about, and that’s something you can hang onto in Division Two. Some of the pitches don’t always produce results, but we knew we had two games at Scarborough that we could definitely win and one at Chesterfield. We had that feeling and knew we could roll with it. It’s gone brilliantly since.”
