Yorkshire v Sussex

Yorkshire v Sussex at Headingley June 3-6

Neil Whitaker reports

SUSSEX captain Ben Brown played a captain’s innings and hit his third first class century against Yorkshire on the first day of their LV Insurance County Championship match at Emerald Headingley at the close he was unbeaten on 126.

Brown said: “We are in a good place, to be fair to Yorkshire they made it very hard  for us to score runs. I love playing here, I’ve always enjoyed myself here and the outfield here is very fast. I felt really positive when I went out to bat despite being four down.  The crowd here helped me to be positive.”

A streaky four from Brown off Ben Coad raced wide of the slips to the third  man boundary to take him to 97 and the Sussex total to 203.  Certainly not where  he intended it to go. He brought up his 19th first class century when he tickled Jordan Thompson off his legs to the fine leg boundary.  His ton came from 149 balls in 207 minutes with 15 fours.

When he came into bat Sussex were reeling at 71 for four in the second over after lunch.  During his innings he passed 8,000 first class runs and shared in a fifth wicket partnership of 107 in 38 overs with Aaron Thomason.  Brown, showed the crowd he was in a confident form despite the situation when he cracked a beautifully flighted ball from Dominic Bess to the cover boundary.  To Bess’ next ball he went down the wicket and got another boundary.  That was the story of their partnership Brown was the aggressor taking the fight to the Yorkshire bowlers while  Thomason was the patient one, when their hundred partnership came up Thomason had only scored 22 of them.

Consecutive fours  from Brown off David Willey, the  first through the latter sliced through the point area brought up the fifty partnership off 91 balls.  Later in the over Brown nearly chopped on to Willey.

Brown danced down the wicket to Bess for another boundary.  He punched Coad through the covers of his back foot for another boundary to bring up his fifty 44th first class fifty which came off 60 balls in 75 minutes and included 10 fours.

Thomason drove Willey  to the cover boundary for the shot of the day but when he 
mistimed a clip off his legs straight to Dawid Malan at short mid wicket Yorkshire were hopeful of wrapping the Sussex innings up.  That was Thompson’s third wicket of the innings.  Thomason’s 40  came from a marathon 231 minutes from 181 balls.

As is the norm Yorkshire captain Steve Patterson won the toss, the seventh out the last eight matches, and in overcast conditions at Headingley you put the opposition in.   It was Willey who made the breakthrough in the fourth over  when he squared Tom Haines up and who edged it to Harry  Brook at third slip who took an easy catch.

Ali Orr making his LV Insurance County Championship debut.  He pushed Thompson gently for a straight four which easily beat the chasing Willey. Two balls later Orr edged Thompson wide of the the skips for another boundary.

South African Stian Van Zyl got off the mark with an extra cover boundary off Willey, in his next over  Zyl repeated the shot with the same result.  Two balls later  Van Zyl turned Willey  off his legs for another four.  But the South African found batting against Thompson more difficult and he edged Thompson’s last ball of his first over to stumper Harry Duke.

Patterson put the shackles on Orr and Thomason by bowling consistently bowling a good line and length and he bowled  32 deliveries before he conceded a run.  Yorkshire were rather lucky to break the partnership. Brook replaced Thompson at the Emerald stand end and he struck  with his first ball as Orr helped  a leg side ball on its way and was caught at wide long-leg by sub fielder Duanne Olivier on for Willey.

Former Yorkshire player Travis Head smashed a widish delivery from Brook to the cover boundary.  Thomason  brought up the Sussex fifty on the 29th over with a beautiful straight drive off Brook to the boundary to take him into double figures after 57 balls.  He got a thick outside edge to the next ball that raced to the third man boundary.

Yorkshire started the afternoon session with an early wicket when former Yorkshire player Travis Head got a little tickle to Thompson and Duke took a good low catch.
The South Australian captain couldn’t believe what he had done as it took him a while to leave his crease.    

Sussex gave a championship debut to Danial Ibrahim from Burnley and at  16 and 298 days is the second youngest to play for Sussex.  He didn’t look to be out of his depth.  After surviving a concerted leg before appeal by Willey on 22, the bowler followed through to Ibrahim and stared at him. Unflustered by that Ibrahim drove the 
next ball straight to the boundary.

 Brown added: “I feel really proud of him.When he came into bat I told him just to enjoy it.  I felt really pleased for him to get some runs  with his family here.  I told him that he is not going to face anything that he hasn’t faced before.”

A crowd of 2056 came to Emerald Headingley to watch their first  Cricket in the flesh for 623 days and the Yorkshire supporters gave their team a generous reception despite their recent thrashing by Lancashire in the last match.

Yorkshire left out Will Fraine, George Hill and Duanne Olivier from the side that lost against Lancashire and brought in Dawid  Malan,Gary Ballance and David Willey. 
Day 2 

AN  unbroken third wicket partnership of 177 between Gary Ballance and Dawid Malan put Yorkshire in a commanding position on the second against Sussex.

Malan was unbeaten on 103,his second first class century for Yorkshire,and Ballance on 74.  The pair came together after Yorkshire had lost both openers  in the space of 18 balls and 12 runs.  Malan accumulated runs while Ballance at the other end was contended to rotate the strike to Malan.  Malan made Sussex  pay the price for dropping him on 27 when  he drove Henry  Crocombe and the ball flew through the hands of Travis Head at first slip moving to his right but he should have caught it. 

As the partnership passed fifty the energy from the Sussex fielders had disappeared and they were struggling to find a way not only to take a wicket but also to stem the flow of runs.  Malan sliced  James Atkins to the third man boundary to bring up his fifty off 72 balls in 101 balls with seven fours.  

Malan looked to be facing every ball the Sussex bowlers delivered and you  barely noticed Ballance moving into the forties.  In reaching the forties his only real shot of  aggression was when he pulled Danial .Ibrahim to the mid wicket boundary.  It was  Ballance who brought up the hundred partnership from 212 balls when he went down the wicket to Jack Carson  and drove him  to deep mid on for a couple.

Malan went down the wicket to Carson and lofted him for a straight six to bring up the 150 partnership with Ballance off 287 balls.  Two runs from his century Malan was lured into a drive by Stuart Meeker which drifted away from him at the last minute.

Ibrahim at 16 years and 299 became the youngest person to hit a LV Insurance County Championship fifty.  He reached his fifty when he turned   Ben Coad off his legs and set off for the single. Carson had to race in to beat Jordan  Thompson’s throw from short mid wicket.  Not only did he beat the throw and the ball went for an overthrow to bring up Ibrahim's fifty from 114 balls in 132 minutes with seven fours.

He had to deal with the early loss of his skipper Ben  Brown in the second over of the day.  Brown added one to his overnight score when Coad got one to jag back in at him and Harry Duke took a low catch all the Yorkshire players went up.  Brown looked behind him to see if the ball carried but umpire Graham Lloyd was unmoved.  He then consulted with his partner Rob Bailey and gave him out.  Brown walked back to the hutch shaking his head all the way and his 263 minute innings was over, he faced 177 balls and hit 18 fours.

Yorkshire should have had their second wicket of the morning when Carson on, three edged Coad to  Harry Brook at third slip at a comfortable height but Brook couldn’t hold on to it.

Just many of the crowd were checking their record for youngest scorer of a LV Insurance County Championship Brook made amends in Coad’s next over. Ibrahim drove  Coad but got an outside edge and Brook accepted a more difficult chance than the one he put down.  Ibrahim’s 55 came from 134 balls in 158 minutes with eight fours.

Ibrahim said: “I got to know I was playing here on Sunday. I just enjoy my cricket as much as possible,  my dad helps me with my game and he is always giving me advice. I am still at school and my school are very flexible about me playing cricket.

Emerald Headingley is an unbelievable place to make your debut. Batting with  Brown was really special and to be there when he scored his century was really special.  He just encouraged me to keep going.

I was not aware that I am the youngest player to score a fifty in the LV Insurance County Championship.  It’s just nice to contribute to the team's effort. I found it tough against Coad and Steve Patterson. To face  David Willey was something unbelievable but I enjoyed the battle and  Brown helped me through it.”

Patterson finally got his reward for his good bowling on the first day when he bowled Meeker who might have got an inside edge. Six balls later another 19 year old Henry Crocombe was back in the hutch leg before to Willey hitting leg stump.  Crocombe was replaced by another 19 year old who was run out for two.  Carson drove Patterson to Willey at cover who had spotted that Atkins had strayed out of his crease and threw his wicket down.  Sussex last three wickets went down for three runs in 14 balls.

Adam Lyth pulled the second legitimate ball of the innings from Crocombe for a six over mid wicket. On 15 he pushed  Crocombe out to Carson at  point and set for a single but was sent back by Kohler-Cadmore. Lyth beat Carson’s direct hit and got a single. 

Lyth and Kohler-Cadmore raced to fifty 12 overs during which they survived vigorous leg before appeal and caught behind.  The partnership was broken when that lad  Ibrahim squared Kohler-Cadmore up and got him leg before to one that was hitting leg stump.  Ibrahim added: “My dad was here but after he saw my fifty and wicket he left.”

Just when Lyth looked a certain for a fifty,Atkins dismissed him two short.  Out of nowhere Lyth was beaten by Atkins as he tried to glance him to the fine leg boundary only to see his leg stump cartwheeling out of the ground.
Day 3

FOR  the second time in his career Dawid Malan fell one short off a double century, the last time  was in 2019 at Derby when he was a  Middlesex player.

Malan’s majestic innings ended when he was beaten by the turn of Jack Carson and was bowled.  As he walked off he was given a standing ovation by the crowd and was applauded by the Sussex players  In Carson’s short career he has now dismissed nine Test players.

He said: “Everything they told me about Headingley being green and seaming around hasn’t happened, thankfully. The wicket played slow, and it was nice to cash in. It’s the first time they’ve seen the sun up here. It’s a totally different game here when it’s not cloudy.

There’s hardly been any movement. Hopefully it breaks up a bit tomorrow and Dominic  Bess can show what a quality spinner he is and put us in a position to win the game. It’s not turning by any imagination, but for him to come here and have to work batsmen out and find a way to win a game, it’s a fantastic situation for him to be in.”

Malan’s innings today was a complete contrast to his innings yesterday, today he was contended to play the second fiddle.  When the fifty partnership came up with Harry Brook came off 62 balls, Malan had  only scored  16 of them while Brook scored 32 of them.

Despite the new ball being available, Sussex captain Ben Brown kept Carson on and rotated the other bowlers round him until Brown took the new ball after 89 overs.

Malan drove James Atkins to the cover boundary for the shot of the morning and guided the next ball to the third man boundary.  In the next over from Henry Crocombe, Malan drove him for a beautiful straight drive to the boundary as Malan and Brook increased the run rate. Later in the  over Brook pulled a poor ball from Crocombe to the square leg boundary.  Brook finished the over with a late cut to the boundary as 17 came from the over.

After the carnage from Crocombe’s over Danial  Ibrahim was recalled to the attack and bowled a maiden.  Malan reached his second score of 150 or more for Yorkshire when turned Ibrahim off his legs shortly before lunch.  He danced down the wicket to Carson and lofted him over the extra cover boundary for his second six.

A straight drive by Brook off Carson for a four took Yorkshire into the lead. Sussex broke Brook’s partnership with Malan when Brook got a feather touch down legside to Atkins and Brown took another catch. His 49 came from 54 balls in 89 minutes.

Yorkshire lost their first wicket of the third day when Carson got one to bite to take Gary Ballance’s bat shoulder and Brown had to take the catch at shoulder high. His previous ball easily beat Ballance and he survived a strong leg appeal.   Ballance  added three to his overnight score and with  Malan they added 180 for the third wicket in 60 overs.

In the third over after  lunch Bess hung his bat out to a inswinger from Stuart Meaker to give Brown another catch.  Brown blotted his copy book when he missed a difficult stumping chance off Carson when he turned one past Jordan Thompson’s outside edge.  After that the runs came easier for Yorkshire with Harry  Duke and Thompson, who  belted Travis Head for an huge six to bring up the sixth fifty partnership of the innings.

The busy Duke brought up his second championship fifty in consecutive matches when he reversed swept Head for a boundary.  His fifty came in two hours from 85 balls.  But in the second over after tea his knock came to an end when he was leg before to Atkins to one that kept low.

Yorkshire lost their last three first innings wickets for 23 runs in six overs giving them a first innings lead of 245.  Atkins finished with his five wicket haul in the LV Insurance County Championship for 98 and Carson three for 124.

Sussex had 23 overs left  to face  and after 10 without a breakthrough Yorkshire  captain Steve Patterson brought Bess into the attack with four of the top five being left handers it was a shrewd move but at the Kirkstall Lane end opposite to the end that Carson had bowled from.

Atkins said: "It was great to be out with the boys all day. I thought we stuck at it really well, and I was delighted to pick up five at the end. When Malan was past a hundred, it was almost like, ‘Where do I bowl to him?’ 

We were trying to get him off strike for large parts of their innings. He’s a top quality batsman, and it’s a privilege to bowl to someone like him and Ballance, players you grew up watching on TV.

Haines  and Orr were brilliant. It just takes so much pressure off everyone else that they’re still at the crease.”
Day 4

YORKSHIRE beat Sussex by an innings and 30 runs with 32 balls left  to move four points behind group 3 leaders Lancashire after a remarkable final session at Emerald Headingley.

When Sussex went into tea they were 165 for four with   35 overs left in the and a draw looked certain, a draw even  looked likely up to 5.00, they then lost six wickets for 23 runs.  Doing the damage for Yorkshire were  Dom Bess who took two wickets dismissing Aaron Thomason and Danial Ibrahim in four balls and David Willey who took three wickets getting rid of the bowlers  Jack Carson, Stuart Meeker and Henry Crocombe.

Carson turned Willey to  Jordan Thompson at leg slip.  Two balls later Meeker fended off a short ball to Harry Brook at short leg.  Crocombe gloved Willey to stumper Harry Duke. Sussex captain Ben Brown was joined by Jamie Atkins and they remained for 12.4 overs before Brown was bowled by Steve Patterson.

Yorkshire captain Patterson said: “Bess got two in an over and then Willey as well to turn the game on its head. I honestly couldn’t see how we were going to win the game, but then it went to us having the best part of an hour to get one or two wickets.I’m still a bit shell-shocked as to how we managed to do it. But I’m delighted.

The message from myself and coach Andrew Gale this morning was to keep it dry for long periods. Then we were always in the game. The fact they were always behind meant that two or three wickets quickly would turn the game on its head.

The key for me is that qualification is now in our hands. That’s all we can ask for. We’re not reliant on other results. It’s about how we perform in those two matches.”

Sussex coach Ian Salisbury said: “Well played to Yorkshire. It was a good toss to win the hardest part of the game was to bat on the first day.  We hung in as long as we could.  Yorkshire are a good side and they were under pressure to win.  It was a good spell from Willey and I never thought that they would be out of the game.

I was impressed by Alli Orr, the way he batted on the first morning in overcast and gloomy conditions and the way  he batted against the spin. He is going to have a good future in front of him.  Aaron Thomason is a fighter

I don’t mind losing but you have to learn from it.”

Orr and Thomason played normal cricket to take Sussex to the draw, they treated each ball on its merit if it needed hitting they weren’t afraid to hit if the ball needed to be respected they respected it.  So many teams needing to bat for the day become entrenched that the scoreboard doesn’t move and if they lose a couple of wickets panic sets in.

After 269 minutes Orr with three close fielders for company drove  over Bess and was bowled much to the surprise of many in the crowd.  He faced 216 balls for his 67 and hit 10 fours.

He gloved  a short ball from Thompson to the fine leg boundary and pulled the next ball which was also short to the same place to bring up his fifty from 139 balls in 165 minutes with eight fours.

Orr and Thomason added 64 in 35 overs after Sussex had two wickets for one run in four balls. Thomason hit his third fifty of the season in 234 minutes from 175 balls with eight fours.  His fifty came from an underedge off Willey which ran under Duke to the boundary.


On 26 Thomason got a thick outside edge to Bess which ran to third man boundary but would have been a comfortable catch for second slip.  He hit two consecutive fours off Ben Coad with the new ball.

The only scare they gave was when Thomason on 21  played Willey out on to the off side and Orr set off for a single but on seeing that Thomason hadn’t moved turned to go back to the bowler’s end but  Thomason changed his mind and then  changed it again.

After Thomason and Willey exchanged a few words Thomason seemed unsettled and he  edged a drive off Bess to Adam Lyth at first slip.  After his first innings score of 55 Ibrahim was brought down to earth with a third ball duck.


Surprisingly Yorkshire opened the bowling with Lyth at the Emerald stand end and after that over Lyth was replaced by Bess who on Saturday bowled at the Kirkstall Lane end.

Tom Haines clipped Coad off his legs for a four through mid wicket, he also late cut him  to the third man boundary. The Sussex openers defied the Yorkshire bowlers for 40 minutes before before Bess got one to take the shoulder of Haines’ bat and Lyth leapt to his left to take the catch.  Three balls later Stiaan Van Zyl was on his way back to the hutch after he edged his first ball from Thompson to Duke.




 
 

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