Relatively Speaking

Posted by John Winn

The Guardian newspaper recently featured eleven players aged under 24 drawn from the current county scene, all of whose fathers played first class cricket. Not surprisingly amongst them was Johnny Bairstow and at Shaw Lane yesterday afternoon smart phone technology allowed us to keep in touch with Bairstow's progress towards his double century. Family connections have certainly been in evidence at the SEC match between Yorkshire II and Notts II at the Barnsley ground. We have seen Ramon Wilson's grandson Eddie Wilson, Samit Patel's younger brother Akhil, Bruce French's nephew, Jake Ball (not a wicketkeeper), Kepler Wessel's son, Rikki and Dave Houghton's nephew, Gary Ballance

Being chauffeured by my friend Dave Masterman to Shaw Lane on Wednesday for the first day of the match between Yorkshire II and Notts II was a treat for me and the day did not disappoint. The sun shone, the breeze was warmer than of late and the runs flowed.
Notts' openers Wood and Patel feasted on wayward bowling form Yorkshire's bowlers, especially Hannon-Dalby whose line seemed unsettled by two left handers. Some measure of control was gradually restored after 70 came up off 16 overs but lunch was taken on 140 for 0 with Patel on 75 and Wood on 50. Little changed after lunch but the partnership was finally broken at 200 when Wood was caught behind. Patel who went shortly after Wood, caught at long leg by when he had made 106.
Notts' supremacy was restored by Wessels and Ali Brown who added 135 for the third wicket. Wessel's went on to make 170 with five sixes and nineteen fours, being dropped five times in the process.
Wessel's name might be added to those of Bosman and Kolpak in the years to come. The 25 year old is able to play in England by virtue of having an 'entrepreneur's visa', in order to obtain which he needed to show that he had a minimum of £200000 in the bank and employ two people. one of whom is himself! Wessels will be the first and last such player under this farcical arrangement for the ECB has successfully lobbied the Home Office to close the loophole. It is perhaps of note that Wessel's father Kepler is one of only fourteen men to play test cricket for more than one country and one of only two in the last fifty years.
Yorkshire were left to face only one over on Wednesday evening which turned out to be only two balls with the close of play scorecard reading four for one. Gary Ballance scored the runs but was also the victim.
Things started disastrously for the young Yorkshire side on Thursday morning as they quickly slipped to 26 for 6 with Notts' bowler George Bacon taking three wickets in five balls, all LBW. Some measure of respectability was restored by the Huddersfield pair of Wilson and Hargreaves but even with help from the tail Yorkshire faced a deficit of almost three hundred when asked to follow on. They again lost Ballance cheaply but at the close were 104 for 1, Callum Geldart 64 not out. This last piece of information is taken from the ECB website which curiously fails to mention Notts 481! I would not therefore stake your house on its validity.