Two wins in two days.

posted by John Winn

On Tuesday I arrived at Headingley in time for coffee before the slightly delayed start of the second day of The Roses Match. Gloom was in the air with Yorkshire having been bowled out fairly cheaply on the opening day and Lancashire having made inroads without loss. Probably no need to tell you that the gloom was soon lifted by Brooks and that Lancashire's advantage was much smaller than feared. Like England Yorkshire have a top three problem at the moment and the men concerned Lyth, Raval and Brook were soon gone but the day and the game were rescued by KC and Ballance. 272 all out was enough to set Lancashire more than they had scored in the first innings, often a tough target.

Meanwhile on Wednesday I drove to Darlington from where I was transported to The Riverside by my friend Alan Pinkney in time to make our way to the lower east side where the sun eventually found us and from where we had a good view of the proceedings Tony has described in his latest posting. For me, Durham born, it was special to be there when Patel took the final wicket, for it was the first time I had seen The Prince Bishops clinch victory since they beat Surrey two years ago, just a week before the ECB came down savagely on the county with fines, points deductions and demotion to Division Two, a move that has left their players open to poaching by other counties.

By the time I reached home on Wednesday evening Ben Coad had swung events at Headingley to the point where Thursday looked like being a catching up day but after a couple of pints on Wednesday evening with Messrs Gawthrope and Bartle I had begun to take a rain check on that position. A text from JG that included the words 'happy to drive' and I was as good as at Headingley which come 1025 yesterday I was, samosa in hand. 40 minutes play later the first division table  looked much better through white rose tinted specs. For Lancs, with just one game left, trips to Wantage Road, The Riverside and Grace Road look more than likely in 2019. By the time they play their final match at Southampton on Monday week 'more than likely' might have become 'definite'.