Yorkshire retain slim hope of Lord's final

 posted by John Winn

Yorkshire supporters have been short changed twice in the last two weeks with their matches at Scarborough and Headingley occupying just thirteen out of a possible twenty four sessions. Following the crushing of Somerset at North Marine Road which was accomplished with a ball to spare on the second day, this week's game at Headingley finished just short of lunch on day four but only because there was no play on Tuesday because of heavy rain. This time the boot was on the other foot, if bears wear boots, when Warwickshire won by 106 runs without registering a batting point. 

I was present throughout the match at Headingley, a match in which there was not one over of spin bowled and only two batsmen reached fifty. At the end of it all Warwickshire became one of four counties still with a chance of winning the championship, the others are Hampshire, Lancashire and Notts. The title's destination will be decided in games beginning on Tuesday the most intriguing of which will be at Liverpool where just four points separate Lancashire and Hants. Warwickshire, in second place, take on the currently hapless Somerset at Edgbaston while Yorkshire visit Trent Bridge for a match which lost quite a lot of its appeal on Wednesday morning when Yorkshire went from 50 for 3 to 117 all out.

To my surprise Yorkshire retain the slimmest hope of finishing second and thereby qualifying for the Bob Willis final which begins on September 27th and might not finish until October. If ifs and buts were sugar and nuts we'd  have our pockets full comes to mind closely followed by flying pigs. Yorkshire are not alone in suffering batting collapses for Hampshire and Nottinghamshire managed only one score of over 200 in their match which finished on Tuesday and just four scores over fifty. 

A murky Monday afternoon at Headingley 

Finally above is the ECB's version of the second division table. Let's take it step by step. Essex seems to be correct, four games played, three wins and a draw and points carried forward make 77. Gloucestershire however have played four and have amassed 56 points but without a win, draw, tie, loss or no result. Durham lie third, presumably on the basis of average points per game but it appears they lost a game when I wasn't looking. It should read played three won one, drawn one, no result one. Northants have gained fifty one points by virtue of a loss, Surrey 27 points via a draw and as for Glamorgan, I give up.