Scarborough excels itself

posted by John Winn

A phone call to York CC just after one o'clock on Sunday confirmed what I had suspected, namely that the York v Chesterfield National KO match had been postponed for the second time and the two teams will try again at Clifton Park on Sunday 27th of July. Should that be a casualty of the weather then a bowl out or toss of the coin will decide who goes through to the last 8. Shortly after my phone call the skies over the Lower Ure Valley darkened and then unleashed heavy rain which washed away all thoughts of seeing cricket for the day.

What a transformation on Monday morning as JG and I drove to Scarborough by the pretty route arriving in plenty of time to take up our positions at the top of the north stand. A firm forecast for a day of sunshine, factor 30 applied, the players going through their drills and an intriguing match situation. The only blot on the horizon what might happen at Lord's and for a while at least things went well there.

Most readers will no doubt be aware of the general pattern of events at North Marine Road. Yorkshire batted with increasing tempo throughout the day so that this morning Galey lad must decide whether a lead of 421 is enough, for even though he did not play in the reverse fixture at Lord's what Middlesex and Rodgers in particular did to the Yorkshire bowling twelve weeks ago will not have been forgotten. Go on Andrew give it a go, they can't do it again. Or can they? My forecast is an overnight declaration but that Yorkshire will not bowl out Middlesex and the captains will shake hands at 5:00.

 Of the four wickets to fall yesterday there was a suggestion that Lees was unlucky, Williamson's shot was extravagant so soon after lunch, Bairstow seemed to think he was at Lord's and Leaning perished in the cause of quick runs to an occasional bowler. Don't worry Jack, another very promising innings and that first century can't be far away.

 In the wake of England's post lunch horror show at Lord's Mark Nicholas writing for cricinfo advocates the recall of Steve Finn who he describes as 'the most feared opponent'. Not sure the 3000 or so sunbaskers who were at NMR yesterday will agree with that, 0 for 88 off 20 overs suggests the Yorkshire batsmen were not too scared either. Plenty of people, probably too many, will dip their oar into the England captaincy pond before selection for Sunday's test side is announced but I note that 74% of Sky viewers think Cook should go. That raises two questions in my mind: were they asked who should replace him for it is a pretty pointless question if they were not, and should Cook stay in the side under his replacement ? Read and yes are my answers.