wrong call (again)

posted by John Winn

Given fair weather, from time to time the county championship throws up a fourth day finish that holds the spectators in thrall until the last ball of the day, irrespective of the outcome. Imagine the tension at Trent Bridge yesterday, where Durham won by 16 runs with just 8 balls left, or The Oval, where Surrey won by 8 runs after a last wicket stand of 48 took Middlesex to the edge of what had seemed an impossible victory or to a lesser degree The Rose Bowl, where Hampshire successfully chased down the target of over 300 set by Northants' declaration.

Then there are games like yesterday's at Headingley when at the start of play Yorkshire needed to take 12 wickets in the day, two of them before Derbyshire could score the 37 needed to avoid the follow on and assuming they managed to do this, take the other ten in whatever number of overs were left. In the end the game, after an early flourish,  produced nothing like the excitement generated elsewhere and the captains shook hands with 14 overs left with Derbyshire's noses safely in front of what was needed to avoid an innings defeat.

Having been convinced at close of play on Friday that there was the potential for an interesting day at Headingley I threw aside a carefully worked out plan to see four games in the HX2 postcode area and took my seat in the members' enclosure ten minutes before play was due to start. For a while all went according to plan for as Brian has described Yorkshire took us to the brink before Bresnan took the tenth wicket and in following on, the league leaders were 18 for 2. My plan B was, that if events at Headingley fell flat, I would take a circuitous route home and pick up some league cricket on the way. Brian made the correct call and left at lunch but I decided I would wait until three o'clock before making a decision and the fall of two wickets at 108 and 111 convinced me to stay a little longer. By tea it was pretty clear the game was up and that Khawaja could find enough support to ensure Derbyshire would get the three extra points a draw would bring them.Even so I hung about for another twenty minutes cricket before putting plan B into action and in the event it was only B-, for I settled for dropping in at Headingley CC just a mile away.

At their Glen Road ground Headingley, previously known as Yorkshire Post CC, were entertaining Bilton in Ainsty A in a Wetherby League Division Four game. As I arrived play was just resuming after tea with the  homesters having set a target of 174 off 45 overs. Headingley have carried all before them this season and after another comfortable victory (Bilton fell well short) they now lead the division by a comfortable margin and promotion to Div 3 should soon be assured. I liked this ground which is tucked away off Headingley Lane and has some very grand houses as neighbours. Access is restricted at the moment by construction work, the precise nature of which I am unaware.

Home in time to discover that Darlington 1883 had won their first game in their new home four relegations below where they were playing last season and then to follow the closing overs from Trent Bridge via Cricinfo and twitter and being delighted by Durham's third successive win in the championship. Hero of the hour was twenty two year old Mark Wood, who took 5 for 78. For Yorkshire yesterday's draw and Hampshire's victory has opened up a ten point gap and with just three games remaining for both sides Yorkshire will probably need to double their current total of two victories. Their next two games are at home against Gloucestershire and Glamorgan and in all probability they will need to take forty wickets in these two games before they travel to Chelmsford on September 11th. That's a lot more wickets than they managed yesterday.