Yorkshire v Warwickshire County Championship Div 1 at Headingley May 2-6
Neil Whitaker reports
Day 1May 4, 2025 12:11 am
THE ball ruled the bat at Headingley on the first day of the Rothesay Championship match between Yorkshire and Warwickshire as 16 wickets fell, no batter hit a 50 and there was only one 50 partnership.
Yorkshire were put in by Warwickshire captain they were all out for 205 on a pitch with a green tinge pitch inside 53 overs with Ethan Bamber taking five wickets for 47. His first Championship haul for Warwickshire.
With Root and Brook coming into the team it was Malan and Bean who made way. With Bean missing Bess opened the innings with Lyth. After he played and missed a few times in Hannon-Dalby’s first over Bess got off the mark when he top edged Bamber between Davies at first slip and stumper Kai Smith.
Bess drove Hannon-Dalby into the covers and the throw missed the stumps at the bowlers end with Lyth stranded, the throw was fielded by Dan Mousley at mid-on and his throw missed the stumps as well with Lyth again stranded. Just when Bess was growing in confidence he got an inside edge to ball that came back at him and Smith took a good moving to his left.
Bamber took his second wicket in his next over when Josh Wharton edged a drive and Smith took a low catch. As he went to throw the ball up he fumbled it and caught it at the second attempt.
Warwickshire should have had Root back in the hutch for one when he edged Ed Barnard but as he wheeled away to celebrate he saw that Smith had dropped the chance. Four balls later Root was back in the hutch when he edged Barnard and Rob Yates at second slip took the catch at boot level.
Lyth batted for 100 minutes and rarely looked in any trouble until Hannon-Dalby was recalled to the attack. Hannon-Dalby moved the ball a couple of inches taking Lyth’s outside edge to give Smith his third catch of the morning.
Bamber got his third wicket of the innings with the third ball after lunch when Brook wafted at a short ball and found Hamza Shaikh at third man. In Bamber’s next over George Hill edged a drive and Davies at first slip took a comfortable waiste height catch.
When Jordan Thompson joined Bairstow the crowd anticipated that anything could happen, they were not wrong. The pair added 61 for the seventh wicket but Warwickshire should have broken it earlier. On 16 Thompson edged one that Hannon-Dalby angled across him and was grateful that Smith could’nt take the chance. The partnership was broken when Thompson nibbled at one from Barnard bowling around the wicket. This time Smith held the chance.
Bamber said: “I loved it out there. These are the games you want to play in. I really enjoyed it. It’s fast moving and probably finely poised after day one. I got a fair share of luck, including one caught at third-man. But I felt alright. Hopefully we can push on with the bat tomorrow.
There’s a good amount of grass covering on the pitch and maybe a few divots. It was a bit soft underneath at the start and hardened up. It’s nice to bowl on, for sure. As they showed you can build pressure and there’s a ball in there. But you do get value for shots.
It will be interesting to see how the game progresses from here.”
In the next over Smith took his fifth catch when Michael Booth squared Ben Coad up who edged it. Bairstow and Ben Sears, the Kiwi on his home debut, added a rapid 24 in three overs before Bairstow went for and expansive dive off Banard and lost his middle stump.
Sears threw caution to the wind went down the pitch to Bamber, had a big swing top edge it and Beau Webster took the catch at second slip with his outstretched hands above his head.
With 43 overs left in the day Warwickshire lost their first wicket when Davies drove hard at Jordan Buckingham edged it and Brook at third slip took a comfortable catch. Without adding to the score Yates pushed at Coad, played inside the line and was leg before on the back leg.
After losing two wickets Warwickshire needed Zen Malik on his first-class debut and Hamza Shaikh to consolidate and take Warwickshire well past 100 before either of them was back in the hutch. But that was not to be, they were both back in the hutch before Warwickshire had made 50 within two balls of each other. Hamza Shaikh tried to leave a short ball from Sears and the brushed his glove before it reached Bairstow then Malik played the wrong line to Hill and was leg before.
Mousley confidently hit consecutive fours off Thompson. He took a couple of paces down the pitch and lofted him over his head for a one bounce four and he gracefully drilled the next ball to the extra cover boundary.
With Barnard, Mousley took Warwickshire past 100 and eventually added 59 before Coad, bowling around the wicket, got one to rise at Mousley whose edge found Lyth at second slip. The departure of Mousley brought in Webster and with Barnard the runs came freely. The faster that Sears and Buckingham bowled the faster the ball found the boundary. But just as the partnership between Barnard and Webster reached 50 Barnard gently guided Sears to Lyth at second slip.
Buckingham said: “I think it was probably a good toss to win in the end, but there's still plenty in the wicket. We bowled pretty well in patches. The first hour was decent. I know they got off to a flyer, but there were a lot of chances. Then our last hour there, that spell from Sears was exceptional. I think we're right in the game. It's probably pretty evenly poised at the moment.
Mousley and Barnard put on a great partnership there. So to get one back and get the nightwatchman out there and put a few up him, hopefully we can get him early tomorrow and then run through them.
We scrapped hard with the bat. We probably just lost wickets at crucial times there. But, as I said, I think it’s still bowler-friendly conditions and there's plenty in the wicket.
We managed to scrape to 200, and hopefully they’re not getting much past that.”
Day 2
JOE Root top scored with 90 as Yorkshire made 232 in their second innings and Warwickshire ended the second day 15 without loss needing another 170 to win.
Root’s 90 will have pleased England Head coach Brendon McCullum after his first innings knock of one. Root played with more confidence than he did in his first innings. He was prepared to dig in and get the rewards when the bowlers were offline. He drilled Ed Barnard into the covers for a single to bring up his 50 from 64 balls with eight fours including two consecutive fours off Beau Webster.
Root drove Webster straight to take him into the 90’s but he added no more. His 233 minute innings ended when he toe ended a drive of Ethan Bamber and the ball looped in the air to Dan Mousley at backward point.
Yorkshire’s George Hill said: “We’re confident heading into tomorrow. If you look back to our game at Durham, we took seven wickets for 90 or whatever it was at one stage. Then, when we played Worcestershire here a couple of weeks ago on what was definitely a better batting surface, we bowled them out for 105 in the second innings. On a wicket which is doing a bit more, it’s a bit quicker - I feel like there are dents which have hardened up now, we’re pretty confident heading into tomorrow.
I was chatting to Harry Brook about it. It’s a wicket that you don’t ever feel in on. If we can control the run rate tomorrow morning and pick up a couple of wickets, we’re definitely well in the game.
Ben Sears bowled quickly this morning, and he was rapid last night as well. He was in the zone. With the swing he got as well, he was very impressive.”
Trailing by 48 Yorkshire lost their first wicket in the third over when Dom Bess lost his off stump to Ethan Bamber with one that nipped back and kept low. They lost their second wicket just after lunch when Adam Lyth clipped Ollie Hannon-Dalby to mid-wicket and set off for a single then changed his mind and sent James Wharton back. Wharton was over half way and turned around. Bamber’s throw was met by Hannon-Dalby who demolished the stumps at the bowler's end.
Lyth hit consecutive fours off Bamber: the first was straight and the second went through extra cover. With Root they added 71 in 16 overs and were looking comfortable in the sunshine until Lyth edged one that moved off the pitch from Barnard and Kai Smith took a simple catch.
Brook cut Hannon-Dalby to the point boundary to bring up the 50 partnership with Root. The partnership was broken in the next over when Brook was leg before to a full ball from Michael Booth who had been applying pressure to Brook who couldn’t get him away.
Jonny Bairstow survived two appeals in consecutive balls off Bamber but he top edged a short ball and Smith took a stealing as he turned his back.
George Hill was caught in two minds whether to go forward or back to Barnard and he just hung his bat out, edged Barnard and Webster at second slip took a great low catch for a tall man.
JordanThompson got a leading edge to Barnard and the ball spooned up to substitute fielder Tazeem Ali at cover. Ben Coad hit three beautiful fours that wouldn't have disgraced a top order batsman.
Sears dropped by Webster at second slip off Booth before Sears had opened his account. He managed to get one before he got underneath a drive and Mousley at backward point took a one handed catch over his head. Booth yorked Jordan Buckingham knocking his off and middle stumps out of the ground.
Australian Webster top scored for Warwickshire with 85 and was last man out as Warwickshire gained a first innings lead of 48. He reached his 50, the first 50 of the match,when Coad took the shoulder of his bat and the ball flew to the third man boundary. His 50 came from 54 balls with seven fours and a six. He blasted Buckingham to the mid-off boundary to draw the scores level. Two balls later he drilled Buckingham to the cover boundary to take Warwickshire into the lead.
Smith added a valuable 71 with Webster until he was squared up by Hill, edged him to Bairstow and became Hill’s second victim of the morning. As well as taking two wickets Hill was involved in the final Warwickshire wicket when Webster pulled Sears to him at mid-wicket. His 85 came from 86 balls with 13 fours and a six.
Hill’s first wicket of the morning was night watchman Hannon-Dalby in the third over of the morning when he nibbled at one from Hill and took a routine catch. Hannon-Dalby got a leading edge to the previous ball but the ball fell short off Coad at mid-on.
The second day, in stark contrast to the conditions on the first day, was played under an overcast sky with temperatures considerably cooler than on the first day. Booth tried to turn Sears to leg but the extra pace of Sears took the shoulder of his bat and Bairstow took his fourth catch of the innings.
Barnard said: “We are very pleased and it was important that we got that lead. Webster played a brilliant innings on a pitch like that. Today we’ve backed our performance with the ball yesterday with the ball today and we are pleased for the chase tomorrow, but it’s not going to be an easy chase.
Everyone backed each other with the ball. There were some tired legs out there but I thought everyone bowled well. It was a real team effort and hopefully we’ll come back tomorrow and knock off the runs. We back our batters to do what they’ve been doing and knock off the runs.”
Day 3
WARWICKSHIRE beat Yorkshire by five wickets on the third day at Headingley with over four sessions to spare to maintain their unbeaten start to the season.
Seeing Warwickshire home was 27 year-old Zen Malik on his Rothesay Championship debut with an unbeaten 49 and he won the match with a six when he pulled George Hill for a six over square leg.It was fitting that Malik should hit the winning runs because after lunch the runs flowed from him.
He hit consecutive boundaries off Jordan Thompson to take Warwickshire’s target below 50: the first through extra cover and the second was straight.Ed Barnard, shared in a fifth wicket partnership of 59 in 13 overs with Malik, greeted Hill’s return to the attack with a graceful drive to the long-off boundary.
In the next over Yorkshire captain Jonny Bairstow telegraphed what was going to come from Ben Sears with no slips but a third man and fine leg, Barnard hooked the first ball for a four. Two balls later he ramped Sears for a six over third man into the Howard stand. Barnard got his third boundary of the over when he drilled Sears to the cover boundary to bring up the 50 partnership with Malik in 11 overs. He finished the over with another boundary to third man. He tried repeating the shot in Sears next over but he edged it to Bairstow.
Yorkshire head coach Anthony McGrath said: “We were in the game all the way through after winning the toss but at the vital points but couldn’t wrestle the initiative away from them. We were a little bit soft with both the bat and ball, and we’ve got to stamp that out in division one. We’ve got to be better for longer with bat and ball.
I think we could have defended 250 in the last innings even with 185,I thought we had a chance but we were a little bit short. Joe Root was superb in the second innings. It wasn't easy batting in the first, but he gave us a chance.
”Warwickshire head coach Ian Westwood said: “It was a great win on a pitch that offered something for the bowlers the whole game. It was a good game to watch and quite tense at times. We knew that we had to be ruthless on that pitch when we got a partnership going.
Beau Webster’s knock in the first innings was exceptional on that pitch you needed a high level of skill. Malik’s innings will do a lot for his and shows that he has the temperament to do it at this level.
Yorkshire needed early wickets to stand a chance and In the morning session they got four wickets which kept Yorkshire interested but Warwickshire were always favourites to win. Alex Davies hit three consecutive fours off Hill’s third over of the day to take their target below 150. He was dropped by Harry Brook at third slip who seemed surprised to see the ball coming his way and moved slightly to his right and the went to his left. But that was it for Davies, in Ben Coad’s next over he was bowled by a full ball losing his off stump.
Rob Yates leg glanced Buckingham to the fine leg boundary and two balls later he pulled a short ball to the mid-wicket boundary. He drove Sears to the cover boundary but just like Davies that was his last scoring shot. Trying to cut a ball from Sears which was too close to him he top edged it to Root at first slip who took two attempts to take the catch.
Dan Mousley got off the mark with a firmly driven four to the mid-on boundary to bring up the Warwickshire hundred. On the stroke of lunch he was bowled through the gate by a straight ball from Thompson. Hamza Shaikh was the other Warwickshire player to lose his wicket before lunch when he feathered Jordan Buckingham to Bairstow who took a low catch.
After the match Yorkshire were deducted a point for a slow over rate and finished with two points and Warwickshire took 20.