On a hot afternoon yesterday the Worcestershire Rapids swept through Headingley rapidly enough to ensure we were home for Springwatch let alone Nigel Farage. Having lost their three opening T20 games this was Yorkshire's first go at 50 over cricket this season but the good size crowd left at 7:00 wondering how a side that top of the county championship can be so inept when the ball is white rather than the traditional red.
Alex Lees won the toss and chose to bat, something he then did for 68 boundary less minutes in which 54 runs were scored at a tad over three an over. During that time he lost Lyth and Leaning which cleared the way for Ballance to give us hope of a return to form with a run a ball thirty until he became one of four victims to fall to Worcestershire's young spinners, Rhodes and D'Oliveira who bowled their full complement of overs for 83 runs. Each incoming Yorkshire batsman was greeted as the one who would pull things round. Rashid, Bresnan, Willey, Plunkett, surely one or two of that middle order would collar this innocuous looking bowling, but no, wickets fell with a metronomic regularity and we were treated to the sight of Bresnan refusing singles to shield Patterson from the strike before the former was last man out with the score at 170. Tedious, brainless and pointless said the sage of Colton in his tea time summary.
The forecast was for the possibility of thunderstorms and as clouds built up in the west and the atmosphere became more sultry this seemed a distinct possibility. It emerged later that Bradford had had some torrential rain causing rail delays and a landslip at Baildon but the heavens did not come to Yorkshire's rescue as Leach and Kohler-Cadmore, no doubt aware that Duckworth Lewis might come into play set about the Vikings' bowling with a savagery that took the breath away. Leach in particular was so severe on Plunkett that Tim was removed from the fray with figures of 0 for 25 off two overs. Willey fared little better and the score stood at 107 inside 13 overs before Leach was caught in the deep, where else, for 63 off 35 balls with eight fours and three sixes. Rashid was the bowler, and the Upper North East think tank, given the success of Rhodes and D'Oliveira, would have brought him on sooner.
When Kohler-Cadmore went just four runs later there was the merest glimmer of hope but skipper Mitchell is too experienced a hand to throw away such a strong position and with help from Clarke who became Rashid's second victim, we knew we were right, and Kervezee, Namibian born, Dutch international and England qualified, the Rapids were home and hosed in the twenty sixth over with D'Oliveira who has been in excellent form this season still in the dressing room.
As the players left the field there was a very half hearted attempt at booing but the rest of us left largely in silence as the public address encouraged us to turn up at Scarborough next Tuesday to see more action in the One-Day cup. With cricket at York and Darlington that day I for one will not be making the trip. Before play began yesterday I was discussing with David Thorpe and Graham Sykes Monday's game between Notts and Northants in the same competition when 870 runs had been scored and how 300 had become the par score in 50 over cricket. I note that in his post match comments Lees said that he thought 250 would have been a good score. Some upward adjustment needed there, Alex, barely enough in T20 these days.
On reflection I have perhaps stressed Yorkshire's failings too much at the expense of Worcestershire's excellent cricket. Their young side, almost entirely academy produced delivered exhilarating cricket not least in the field where they excelled, some of their boundary work was of the highest class. Congratulations to coach Steve Rhodes, father of George who had figures of 10-1-32-2 on debut. The photo shows the damage exacted by Leach and Kohler-Cadmore in the first 8 overs of the Worcestershire innings.
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