Yorkshire v Warwickshire Sept 12-15

Neil Whitaker reports

Day 1 
AT stumps on the first day Yorkshire were well in command but when bad light ended play early they were 60 behind with only two wickets left,

Fresh  from their two day victory over Somerset at Scarborough Yorkshire fans thought they were in for the same when they had the visitors on 103 for seven at lunch then got the last three wickets in 10 overs after lunch.

Yorkshire captain Steve Patterson did everything right, winning the toss, deciding to field and took four for 34 in 14 overs which included his 450th first class wicket.

He said: “ I didn’t realise it was my 450th.  I have always said that I would like to finish with 500 and that will probably take me another two seasons.

We were happy to get them out for that score but we found it tough with the bat. The pitch has quickened up.  We have to get as close as possible to their score. We’d be happy to get within 20 or 30 of their score, if we keep Gary Ballance there for an hour.”

Chris Woakes said: “We are relieved that we got them eight down after we were bowled out for 150.  We have wrestled some momentum back in the game.  You could still score  in between the balls that nipped back at you.

It was a great knock from Michael Burgess, it was an important knock for us and 
gave us some momentum to go into our bowling. We all kept putting the ball in the right areas and Craig Miles got his rewards at the end of the day.”

Put into bat Warwickshire captain Will  Rhodes, opened  the batting in place of Rob Yates,  hit three fours off the first over from Ben Coad.  His opening partner Dom Sibley had a life on six when he pushed forward at Coad and edged him but stumper Harry Duke diving to his right in front of George  Hill at first slip spilled the chance.  That drop didn’t cost Yorkshire anything, in the next over he tried to turn Matthew  Fisher to leg and was leg before.  Sibley couldn’t believe the decision rubbed his leg about the knee before he walked off 

Without adding to the score Rhodes nibbled at one from Coad and gave Duke an easy catch. Sam Hain was squared up by Coad who took the outside edge and the ball ballooned up to Dom Bess at backward point.

Chris Benjamin got off the mark with a top edge pull off Fisher that flew over the slips heads for a six.  Then Patterson got the scent of wickets with three wickets in 20 balls.  His first victim was Benjamin who shouldered arms to Patterson and was bowled.

Matt Lamb played forward at Patterson and was bowled through the gate. Patterson got his third wicket of the innings when Woakes played back to him and was leg before.

17 year old Jacob Bethal on his Championship debut was Patterson’s fourth victim in the sixth over after lunch and the 450th first class victim.  Bethal, who added 30 in 10. overs with Burgess, edged Patterson who squared him at to give Duke another catch  after an enterprising 15.

Warwickshire’s resistance came from wicket keeper Michael Burgess.  He blunted the Yorkshire bowlers and attacked them with some outrageous shots.  When he came into bat Warwickshire were four down in 14 overs, they hadn’t reached 50 and was the last man out for 66.

He reached his fifty when he pushed Patterson to mid on for a quick single from 77  balls in 116 minutes with seven fours.  He smashed Coad to the mid wicket boundary and Bess on the square leg boundary had no idea where the ball went. Burgess cheekily scooped Coad for a six over fine leg.  Two balls later he helped the ball on its way to Bess on the square leg boundary who didn’t have to move an inch.

Former Yorkshire player Tim  Bresnan became the fourth leg before victim of the innings when he played back to Hill and the ball kept low.  Bresnan looked amazed at the decision but he moved across his stumps after the ball hit his pad.

Miles edged Coad and Duke took a great one handed  catch in his right hand diving low in front of Hill at first slip.


In their reply  the Yorkshire openers Adam Lyth and Hill found it hard against Woakes and Liam Norwell.  Both bowled with pace and looked like taking a wicket with every ball. Yorkshire lost their first wicket in the third over when Hill played down the wrong line to Woakes and was leg before.  Four balls later Lyth was following Hill back to the hutch. Norwell bowling round the wicket angled one into Lyth who was adjudged leg before.  

To counter attack Woakes and  Norwell, Dawid Malan and Ballance  fought fire with fire as they regularly found the boundary until Malan cut Woakes to Lamb at point.

Ballance, who had a life on 13 when he edged Norwell but Benjamin at diving to his right couldn’t take the catch was joined by  Harry Brook who was the only Yorkshire player apart from Ballance to reach double figures.   Yorkshire lost five wickets for 30 runs in overs.

After adding 36 with Ballance the newly capped Brook played down the wrong line and was bowled.  Dom Bess was bowled through the gate.  Duke played across the line.  Thompson miscued a pull off Miles and found Rhodes at mid on.  Fisher was was the last wicket to fall when he edged Miles to Bresnan at first slip who took a knee high catch to his right.  At the close Ballance was unbeaten on 51.

Day 2
AT the end of the second day’s play the match is poised on a knife edge where both teams need one good hour and the match will be theirs.

Yorkshire’s Jordan Thompson took five for  52, his second five wicket haul in first class cricket after claiming five for 31 against Leicestershire last season, former Yorkshire player Tim Bresnan helped his new side get their lead past 200 and took three  catches at first slip.  The the third was the best of them, a low right handed catch to dismiss Dawid  Malan.

Thompson said: “ I thought it was never going to happen after the way I bowled in the first innings so it’s nice to get five in the second.  There’s still a lot of time left in the game but to get another 170 tomorrow will be challenging but we are looking forward to it and we’ll try our best.

Michael Burgess has batted well in both innings and Dom Sibley dug in and batted well.  We would have liked to bowl them out for 30 less.”

It took Warwickshire 25 balls to take the two remaining first innings Yorkshire wickets.  The first to go was Steven Patterson when he played down the wrong line, left a gap and lost his off stump to Craig Miles.  He had got a thick outside edge to the first ball of the day from Miles which ran to the third man boundary.  Gary Ballance moved his right leg out of the way and hammered Miles to the long off boundary as Yorkshire moved past 100 under the  floodlights.  He moved across his stumps to have a big swing at Miles but got an under edge and played on.

Miles ended with three for 21 from  9.5 overs, Chris Woakes took three for 40 and the impressive Liam Norwell finished with four for 27 in 14 overs.  The Yorkshire innings lasted one ball longer than the Warwickshire innings but the visitors scored  47 more.

It was almost Groundhog Day as the Warwickshire second innings copied their first.   Today they were 27 for four in the 18th over yesterday they scored a tad quicker and were 48 for four in 14 overs.  Today they were 108 for seven yesterday they were 103 for seven.  The only difference between yesterday and today was that Burgess wasn’t Warwickshire’s top scorer but he was second with 37, but he did share in a partnership of 70 with Sibley .

Again Burgess took the fight to Yorkshire.  He drove Ben  Coad beautifully to the extra cover boundary. In the next over  he drilled Thompson to the mid wicket boundary and in Thompson’s next over Burgess slapped him to the cover boundary.

Surprisingly Burgess fell to Matt Fisher’s first ball back in the attack. Expecting to add his boundary count of six, he simply drilled it straight to Harry Brook at point.

Opener Sibley who saw wickets fall regularly at the other end looked odds on to be soon joining them but he grew in confidence and followed Burgess’ lead. He turned Coad to fine leg for a single to bring up the fifty partnership with Burgess  which came from 89 balls.  

Yorkshire thought they had him when he undereged Thompson luckily for the Bears opener it fell out of Dukes’ grasp and ran for four.  Sibley had another slice of luck when he aimed to turn Thompson off his legs but got a leading edge and the ball flew past the slips to the third man boundary.  But Thompson got his revenge when Sibley, who edged the previous ball but it fell just short off Adam Lyth at second slip,edged him to Harry Duke who took a low catch moving to his right.  

Three balls later Thompson got his fourth wicket of the innings when Chris Woakes edged him without moving his feet to Duke for his sixth catch of the match.

Leading by 47 Warwickshire lost their first wicket in the 12th over when Will  Rhodes played around a straight ball from Patterson and was bowled.  Chris Benjamin edged a drive off Thompson and Lyth took a comfortable waiste height catch.  Thompson got on a hat trick when he squared Sam  Hain up who edged it to Duke for a golden pair.  Matt Lamb just avoided edging the hat trick ball wide of Duke.  Lamb pushed forward at Patterson and lost his off bail while Patterson was appealing for a  leg before.

On 97 for six former Yorkshire player Bresnan came to the wicket with the aim to get Warwickshire’s lead to as close as 200 as possible.  One of his earliest scoring shots was cutting Thompson to the point boundary.   Bresnan was joined by Jacob Bethal, the end for Warwickshire would be soon but they stubbornly added 22 before Bethel played back to Fisher,  bowling round the wicket, and lost his off stump.

Miles showed as soon as he came he leant back and smashed Thompson to the extra cover boundary as Warwickshire inched their lead to 200.  With Bresnan, Miles saw Warwickshire to tea without any further loss adding 39 in 11 overs. Yorkshire broke the partnership with the first ball after tea when Bresnan played across the line to Coad and was leg before.

Last man Norwell soon reached double figures but on 13 he lofted Thompson to Malan  who ran back to take the catch at mid off.

Needing 224 to win with two days and 26 overs left in the game Yorkshire lost their first wicket in the third over when Hill edged Woakes to Bresnan who took a tumbling catch.

Bresnan took his second catch at first slip when Lyth edged a drive of Miles, who replaced Woakes at the Kirkstall Lane end, and Bresnan took a comfortable knee high catch.

Day 3
PLAY on the third day was abandoned without a ball being bowled at 2.30 due to heavy rain during the morning.

Before the announcement Tim Bresnan said: “I think we have enough runs on the board with the attack we’ve got in  this game. Chris Woakes  has been massive for us. He’s bowled superbly, backed up well by everyone else. 

The sun came out for the last hour and a bit which made it difficult for us. But once the clouds come in at Headingley, anything is up for grabs.”

About his three catches he said: “I’m enjoying being back in the armchair (slip cordon) so I don’t have to run around as much! And it helps when I’m catching them.

The last one Dawid Malan, I made an easy-ish slip catch look quite difficult and I have ended up pulling off something a bit special.”

On his partnership with Craig  Miles he said: “It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed batting with Miles. We’re both pretty chilled characters when it comes to batting. Even though the pressure was on, we just tried to go up and in fives (runs) and 10s and see where we could build it to.”

Miles said: “I think it’s evenly balanced but they’ve still got a couple of players in Gary Ballance and Harry Brook, either one of them can take Yorkshire home but they have to chase the biggest score of the match equally a quick spell of a  couple of quick wickets could take us home.

The runs between me and Bresnan were  pretty valuable as was was the partnership between me and Liam Norwell took our lead beyond 200. When the sun  and out it got easier but the forecast is to be cloudy for the rest of the game and we have to put the ball in the right areas to get our rewards.

It’s the first game I’ve played with Woakes, to have someone like him at mid off talking  to me and then to watch him is great.”

Day 4

YORKSHIRE hopes of winning their 33rd LV County Championship ended  with the third ball of the day when Gary Ballance edged Chris Woakes to   Sam Hain at second slip.


Tim Bresnan became another ex Yorkshire player to come back and haunt them.  He took three more slip catches to add to the three he took on the second day becoming the third Warwickshire player to take six catches in an innings joining Mike Smith took sixth catches at Hinckley against Leicestershire in 1962 and Rickie  Clarke who took seven catches against Lancashire at Liverpool in 2011 and he also took a wicket.



Bresnan took his first catch of the day when Woakes squared Harry Brook up and edged it.  Brook had got a thick outside edge off Woakes’ previous ball just evading  Craig Miles at backward point who leapt to catch the ball but itran to the boundary.  


Bresnan’s next catch was Jordan Thompson who was promoted up the order to number six. It was Thompson, who opened the day’s scoring when edged Woakes to the fine leg boundary.  When he clipped Liam Norwell off his legs to the long off boundary it looked as if he would blast Yorkshire home or take them close before he departed but on 18 he was the eighth wicket when he top edged a cut off Norwell and that man  Bresnan took another catch at first slip.


Yorkshire captain Steve Patterson swing his bat at Miles but bottom edged to Bresnan.  Bresnan got his only wicket of the match when Dom Bess played down the wrong line to a ball which was hitting leg.



Warwickshire coach Mark Robinson said: “Every time we have won this season he has played.  He loves the game and loves the big moments.  The catch he took to dismiss Dawid Malan on the second day was outstanding and to do it on the last ball of the day as we were looking at them being two down with Ballance and Malan batting in good conditions.To win at Emerald Headingley is something special to him.”


While Yorkshire’s first X1 coach Andrew Gale said: “He did well,showed all his experience and took the sting out of the game. Bresnan was always going to play in this game after he missed the last couple.”



Yorkshire’s wicket keeper Harry Duke got off the mark when he clipped Miles off his legs to the fine leg boundary followed by another clip to the mid wicket boundary.  Then he was back in the hutch when Miles took a tumbling return catch diving forward in his follow through when he got one to pop up at Duke who couldn’t do anything but watch the ball loop up in the air.



At 12.11 the match was over when last man Ben Coad chipped Norwell to Warwickshire captain Will  Rhodes at mid on.


Robinson added: “I am absolutely delighted by the character of the team.  I thought Michael Burgess' knock in the first innings was vital as was Dom Sibley’s  in the second innings. I wanted to get one session in yesterday because I thought we had a better chance of taking a couple of wickets and I didn’t want the sun to come out because it would help the batters.  It was great to get  rid of Ballance so early in the day because he could have knocked off the runs and after that we kept chipping away.


We have a chance of winning the Championship and Woakes wants to play but it’s up to the ECB. We hope they will let him play  because he is a bear and wants his team to win a championship.”



Gale added: “We should have got 200 in the first innings to put them under some pressure and taken  the game away from them.  If we had batted better in the first innings we would have put the game to bed.  The most disappointing thing was the way we performed this morning.  We were a bit soft not to take the game beyond lunch and we should have bowled them out cheaper in their second innings 


We have to play our best cricket  next week when we go to Trent  Bridge.  We are going there to make up the numbers we are going there to win. Over the last few weeks we have played some good cricket so we should have batted better in the second.  We have a few experienced heads in the team =but the younger lads will learn from this.”


Warwickshire’s 106 run  victory sees them move second in the table 3.5 points behind leaders Hampshire. Yorkshire are fifth 10. 5 points behind fourth place Nottinghamshire while Lancashire are in third place .5 points behind Warwickshire.

SCORECARD