Harr harr but not much hah hah

posted by John Winn

In recent conversations about the state of Yorkshire cricket and in particular their championship season my friend John Gawthrope has insisted that the club including its members should be looking over their shoulders rather than star gazing towards the top of the table. If you didn't believe him then you will surely believe him now with the White Rose just two points above the Pears and as this morning's Guardian says 'in the relegation zone'. Next championship action, the filling in a very thick T20 sandwich, is in three weeks when Yorkshire visit fellow strugglers Lancashire, Should you feel able to look to the top you will see Surrey 22 points clear with a game in hand over second place Notts. Pass the Goddard's.*

And yet it was not always like this for as five of us travelled from the Lower Ure Valley on Wednesday morning spirits were high as we looked forward to Yorkshire building on the decent position they had built up on Tuesday despite the interruptions as the harr** rolled in from the North Sea causing a loss of almost 15 overs play. Even some enterprising batting from Pope and Morkel first thing  did not set our hopes back too much, a lead of 75 on a wicket where only four batsmen had made over fifty in two completed innings seemed a reasonable cushion. By beer o'clock (12:30), all had changed, Lyth and the hapless Lees were soon gone and as others followed one of our number threatened to return home by the Coastliner bus. Even Tattersall couldn't pull these particular chestnuts out of the fire as Morkel and Dernbach wiped out memories of the indignation heaped upon them in the first innings by Brooks and Patterson. By stumps Stoneman has found some form and Burns was as convincing as ever. Surrey were cruising at 89 without loss and a deficit of 139 was not enough to convince me that it was worth making the journey yesterday morning and so it proved with the winning runs struck just after 2:15. Hah Hah, but only if you wore the Prince of Wales' Feathers.

With the sun shining again this morning and for my wife and me a weekend in the Lake District, where it is even hotter, in prospect. we must not be too downcast. By the time of The Roses match on July 22nd Williamson, Willey, Kohler-Cadmore and Fisher should be available, not too difficult to see where they might fit in and here's something from the outer limits of the left field, someone at the ECB will have spotted that Joe Root is not in great form and some red ball cricket might be just what he needs before 'testorama' begins on August 1st. Hah Hah. 

* a well known brand of silver polish

** a term used in lands bordering the North Sea to describe a sea mist arising when warm air passes over the cold sea. I have been taken to task over my spelling of harr. Under haar Chambers dictionary offers harr, hare, and hoar. Harr, my preference is from Old Norse.