Great week for Yorkshire - at all levels

Posted by Tony Hutton

Thursday 6th May - Derbyshire 2nd XI v Yorkshire 2nd XI (County ground, Derby)

First visit of the season to Derby, passing through quite a bit of rain on the way, but play started on time in grey overcast surroundings. Main change is that the square has been turned round to avoid problems with the setting sun. This has led to re-location of the floodlight pylons and scoreboards.

A very young looking Yorkshire side contained no less than eight teenagers and the oldest man in the side was Lee Hodgson at 23. At the start of day two they managed to take the overnight score of 105-6 to 167 all out, thanks mainly to Callum Geldart's fifty, ably assisted by Tim Bresnan's younger brother who got 11 after coming in last man. So only seven runs behind Derby's first innings score.

After an early lunch due to drizzly rain, Yorkshire's varied attack chipped away and reduced the home side to 132-5, before Jonathon Clare's 95 turned the game back Derby's way. As the small crowd shivered in the cold winds, the best spot for viewing was in the Gladwin and Jackson suite of the pavilion where tea and coffee were availabe with a fine view of the action through the glass.

Brian Senior and myself enjoyed an excellent lunch and some welcome warmth in the Exeter Arms, an old fashioned back street pub, with lots of interesting memorabilia, mainly photographs of film stars from the distant past.

The atmosphere back at the ground was well summed up by the lady reporter on the Derby website:-

'It was cold. I repeat - it was cold! And just in case readers are thinking - typical woman...always cold, there was some big, brave men wrapped in all manner of apparel including sleeping bags, curtains (don't ask), travel rugs, gloves and muliple pairs of socks !'

When bad light eventually stopped play Derbyshire declared on 296-9, setting Yorkshire 304 runs in 96 overs on the last day. News had already filtered through of the Yorkshire first team's innings victory at Scarborough, but it seemed long odds against the second team completing a double.

However the following day Yorkshire managed to knock off the runs in fine style by five wickets in 87.5 overs. Star of the show this time was former Derby man Gary Ballance who made 134 before being out with the scores level. Rain was threating again as skipper Azeem Rafiq with 33 not out saw them home.

Saturday 8th May - Yorkshire Academy v Harrogate (Weetwood, Leeds)

With many of last season's Academy players having moved back to their club sides a largely new intake has taken up the baton and continued the club's successful week with a crushing victory over Harrogate in the Yorkshire Premier League.

On paper with the return of several former batting stalwarts Harrogate looked good for a big score, but one of the Academy newcomers, Ben Coad, took two vital wickets to dismiss Vic Craven for 19 and captain Ryan Bradshaw who top scored with 44. Then the spinners Jack Hughes and Randhawa demolished the tail to leave Harrogate all out for only 108.

With a total of 66 overs available to get the runs the Academy took their time initially, but then Callum Geldart, one of the heroes of Derby, took the Harrogate spinners to the cleaners to score a splendid 69 not out, including three huge sixes on this very large ground. He was given good support by another newcomer Irfan Amjad who finished on29 not out and the Academy won comfortably by nine wickets.

So the end of a notable week for Yorkshire cricket with three great victories and quite a few young men already banging on the first team door.