While not able to compete with my two blogging colleagues in terms of grounds visited these days, I have had an eventful week of cricket watching and enjoyed the few days of hot sunshine which somehow seem to be petering out all too quickly.
Saturday was spent at Stamford Bridge for the first innings of the home side against the Yorkshire Academy. Still a cool breeze on the pavilion side of the ground, but lovely warmth on the main road side. Will Rhodes, not able to force his way into the Yorkshire first team until the Test stars depart, appeared for Stamford Bridge together with his brother, Dominic. Also in the home side was Alex McQueen, the former Leeds Bradford University player now on trial with Yorkshire second eleven.
The Bridge started slowly and what appeared to be the key contest of the afternoon arrived when Rhodes came in at number three to face left arm spinner James Logan the prolific wicket taker for the Academy. It went very quickly the bowler's way when after being hit for two straight fours, he had Rhodes caught in close by Jordan Thompson for only nine. However 50 from McQueen together with 57 from opener Boyle, who took his time, rescued the Bridge and brought a respectable total of 231-8.
At this point I had to leave due to certain birthday celebrations elsewhere and sadly learned of the Academy's defeat despite 71 not out from Thompson as they were bowled out for 191 with another good contribution from McQueen with 3-48.
So like Brian I was able to enjoy the sunshine at Headingley for two days as Yorkshire initially struggled somewhat to bowl out Surrey. Having seen the other Steve Davies introducing the snooker at the Crucible recently it felt as if his namesake had achieved a century break with a splendid innings together with the obvious class of Sangakarra, always a joy to watch.
Good crowd in at Headingley
On Monday of course it was the Root and Bairstow show. What tremendous batting from them both, with Bairstow initially the more aggresive and Root showing his trademark classic shots. What I always enjoy when seeing them bat together is their running between wickets. Surely there cannot have ever been a better pair for turning ones into twos whenever possible. Brian has listed all the records they broke particularly the Lehmann and Lumb partnership of ten years ago which I recall so vividly. What a pity we are unlikely to see them batting together for Yorkshire much this season.
I did leave early on Monday to see part of the one day game at Weetwood between Leeds Bradford and Durham MCCU. On arrival I found the game had started at 11.00 rather than the usual 12.30 leaving the one spectator, all the way from Lancaster, rather upset. This too provided some devasting batting towards the end. The home side were chasing 290 to win in 50 overs and at the half way stage were 139-5. Most people including myself thought it was a lost cause but the sixth wicket pair of Weston, who plays Bradford League for Woodlands, and McDermott put on a stand of 150 to win the game with two and a half overs to spare.
Weston finished on 124 not out with nine fours and six sixes!
The same two sides regrouped on Tuesday for a two day game, but of course it rained and play was curtailed with Durham's openers going well. This morning after a short delay Durham were given a total of 69 overs to bat. They made full use of this with Fraine from Huddersfield and Clark putting on 143 for the first wicket and then Cooke and Marshall another 104 for the sixth wicket. Final total 328-7.
Another area of doubt arose as to how many overs the home side would have. One suggestion was 66 in reply to 69 which seemed odd. Someone else said 16 in the last hour, but soon after this hour started it was getting dark and both sides called it a draw with ten points each with Leeds/Bradford on 204-5 after only fifty overs. Captain Davis top scored with 79 not out.
One other item of University cricket news is that the prolific Billy Root has now left the Leeds/Bradford ranks in an effort to break into the Nottinghamshire side. This may be partly due to the very sad enforced retirement of James Taylor, but good luck to Billy who has entertained us so much in his time with the University.
I hesitate to report on a university womens match which was taking place on the Weetwood No. 2 ground, but have been supplied the following details by one of the umpires Barrie Oliver. Leeds university women were supposed to be taking on Durham university women but only five Durham players appeared, one of whom had never played cricket before. The five batted first and were all out for 31 of which 24 were extras. Leeds promptly knocked them off for the loss of one wicket and obviously claimed full points. Where the rest of the team were remains a mystery.
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