On Friday evening I tore up detailed plans for a Saturday watching NYSD league cricket and early yesterday morning saw me heading up the A1 towards The Riverside encouraged to think I would see an exciting day's cricket with all four results possible. Collingwood's declaration on Friday evening had taken me by surprise for at tea it looked as though Durham could bat Yorkshire out of the match. The loss of an hour or more's play may have influenced his decision as may a forecast for Saturday which suggested that there would be interruptions in play, especially in the morning.
As I drove through North Yorkshire I met with a very heavy shower but by the time I had crossed the River Tees the sun was shining, the roads were dry and in the event there was never any serious threat to a full day's cricket. Meeting my friend Michael Taylerson we decided to sit at 'the wrong end' and took up a position with our backs to 'the best view in county cricket'* where we sheltered from the cold wind and although most of the reasonably sized crowd kept their coats on it was not unpleasant watching.
After half an hour Yorkshire were reduced to 21 for 2 and it began to look as though their innings might replicate their efforts on Thursday and that a mid afternoon finish was a possibility. One man made sure that this was not to be the case for England's Joe Root demonstrated beyond any doubt why he can be thus described. The situation was tailor made for his calm approach to batting and by lunchtime, despite the loss of Gale just before the interval, the balance of the game seemed even. By tea Root had gone close to 150 and although neither had looked secure Bairstow and Ballance had given him enough support to see Yorkshire 212 for 4 and needing 124 off 34.
I was not alone in being puzzled by Collingwood's tactics in the afternoon for although it was clear there were few devils in the pitch his persistence in bowling Borthwick, who went for more than five an over, served only to bring down the run rate. When the new ball became available Root greeted it with a crashing square cut for four which brought up his 150. By now he had been joined by Rashid who showed a positive approach but not quite as frantic as his first innings effort and runs came fast enough to bring the run rate down to two an over and the result a formality with 20 off ten needed. There was still one surprise to come, and that was the biggest of the day, namely the dismissal of Root for 182 with the scores level. A magnificent effort. Enter Bresnan and with no pussyfooting he smashed his first ball for four to send The Doncaster Rovers' supporters sitting near me into raptures for the second time in an hour.
There is only a day's respite for both teams. Yorkshire will be at Headingley tomorrow with heads held high and feeling that Derbyshire provide an opportunity to make it successive wins. Durham by contrast travel to Trent Bridge, heartened to some extent by the knowledge that most of their batsmen have shown some form but surely feeling that here was a game that should never have been lost and yet one that from early afternoon they never looked like winning. For me I felt privileged to have seen Root's innings and having enjoyed a day that reminded me why I prefer this form of cricket to 50 over or T20.
Throughout the afternoon twitter had kept me informed of events at Heritage Park, the temporary home of Darlington 1883 FC, where a victory over Team Northumbria was enough to give my team the championship of The Northern League and we now go forward to the Evo-stik Northern Premier Division One North. There's a possible link between the sponsor's name and Root's innings but time is short for I'm off to Harrogate this afternoon to see them take on South Shields in the National KO cup so I'll leave it to the readers to make one up for themselves.
* Lumley Castle
No comments:
Post a Comment