I have spent the last two days at Headingley and had anticipated that I would be back there today and indeed as I left shortly after six last night just as Coad sent Libby's stumps spinning my last words to Graham Sykes who left at the same time were a confident 'See you tomorrow'. Driving home I searched in vain for score updates on the car radio but to no avail. Five Live Sports News avoided any mention of cricket, Five Live Extra entertained us with commentary on a women's football match and Radio Leeds offered helpful hints on how to make the perfect curry, something I feel is not entirely suited to radio. Arriving home I tuned to on line coverage from Headingley and after a short break in transmission discovered Yorkshire had taken the extra half hour and Notts had but three wickets in hand to save the match. Shortly before the 7:40 close the admirable Coad sent Wood on his way to make the decision not to travel today a relatively easy one.
Resurfacing at Adel* caused me to be a couple of minutes late in arriving at the ground yesterday but a slightly delayed start meant I had missed no play. After eight balls and eight runs the rain came back and lunch was taken early. When play resumed Gurney struck three times but Notts' somewhat listless approach continued and Bresnan took over Ballance's mantle with good support from Coad who hit his highest first class score in a last wicket partnership of 77 which ended at tea and probably put the game beyond the visitors' reach.
Yesterday's weather was typical early season and those wise enough to bring some warm clothing were rewarded, particularly after tea. Saturday was just about perfect and it was good to be back, to see familiar faces in familiar places, worry a little about some who were absent but who in most cases turned up yesterday looking well . Pigeons rather than wagtails provided the outfield entertainment, there was some over zealous stewarding which brought the word gestapo to one of our company's lips, but Yorkshire caught well, the bowling was in the main disciplined and enough people made runs. The rub, and it is a big rub, is that after today there will be no more championship cricket in LS8 for 18 weeks until on August 29th when Somerset will come to town. Crackers.
Assuming Yorkshire do the necessary tidying up this morning, victory over Notts, who vanquished Lancashire in the first round of matches will go a long way to easing the disappointment of last weekend's washout and mean that by close of play today it is likely that no side will have two victories to their name. Two teams, Worcestershire and Lancashire, have already registered full marks in the losses column.
And now to Friday when on another perfect day I met up with plenty of old friends at The Riverside, several of whom I had not seen since last September. Kent had been on the wrong end of a pasting by Gloucestershire in the first round and twice last season had wriggled out of defeat against Durham. Not too formidable opposition for a Durham side minus the three defectors, Jennings, Onions and Coughlin(P) and who had their overseas star the South African Markram. The main talking point in the south east corner was the omission of Cameron Steel, one of the few rays of sunshine in a dismal 2017. The returning Will Smith, not good enough to get a game at Hampshire last season, opened with Markram in Steel's place. Markram opened his account with a duck, he was to repeat that score later in the day and never did it look like anything other than a debacle. Ironic cheers when Durham passed 67, their lowest score ever, offered no comfort and only some tail end resistance saw us into the extra half hour before lunch. This was but a few minutes old when Rushworth holed out.
After the early loss of Bell-Drummond, Dickson and the patient Kuhn added 63 but a mid order collapse and not much from the tail saw Kent all out shortly before the close with a lead of 78 and there was just time for Markham to enter the record books before the close. Durham's plight went from bad to worse on Saturday and at one point numbers four to eight inclusive fell for an aggregate of ten runs and an innings defeat in four sessions looked likely. Potts however stuck it out for nearly two hours and Weighell who hit 84 added almost a hundred for the last two wickets with Rimmington and Rushworth. Despite the early loss of Dickson, Kent made it look easy winning by nine wickets before a delayed
tea, a humiliating defeat for Durham, who are at Wantage Road on Friday to face Northants who are two points better off but have played a game more. With Gloucestershire and Middlesex facing defeat today it seems likely that no side in Division Two will have two wins from two games.
* I had seen a notice on Saturday warning me of this but for some reason didn't think it applied to me.Coad and Bresnan batting at Headingley yesterday
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