A first as far as we can tell

 posted by John Winn

Last Saturday evening, encouraged by the news from Headingley that Jordan Thompson had removed the first three Warwickshire batsmen in quick time, I was fairly sure that the next day would see me in LS6 and in a frame of mind between hope and expectation that Yorkshire would take the remaining seven wickets required to clinch their second championship of the season. Next morning however a more cautious mood prevailed and I decided against making the 45 minute journey. By five in the afternoon when Patterson and Rhodes shook hands on the draw after the latter and Hain had defied Yorkshire's efforts to part them for the entire day's play I decided that I had made the right decision.

And that was that, or so I thought until Monday afternoon when I received an email from my friend John Gawthrope, an email that had been circulated as far as the East Riding, which raised the question

 'Was this the first instance in YCCC's history that they had failed to take a single wicket in a full day's play of championship cricket? 

My conclusion after research that has taken me back as far as Cheltenham in 1876 when WG Grace and WO Moberley added 261, still Gloucestershire's record fifth wicket against Yorkshire, is Yes, an opinion shared by everybody else I have been in touch with over the past week. 

Although I have delved into the nineteenth century and looked at stands between Abel and Hayward at The Oval (448) and Palairet and Hewett at Taunton (346) and more recently Barnet and Tweats at Derby in 1997 (417) and Billings and Stevens at Headingley in 2019 (346) I can not find an example that answers John's question with a 'no'.

The partnership that has most occupied my attention is one made at The Ageas Bowl in 2011 when it was still smelling of roses and where Michael Carberry and Neil Mackenzie posted what remains the highest stand against Yorkshire in first class cricket. This amounted to 523 from 135 overs and 1 ball spread over 7 hours 55 minutes. Replying to Yorkshire's 532 all out (Rudolph 99, McGrath 115) Hampshire were 59 for 2 when the pair came together and by close of play on the second day had taken the score to 116 for 2. The third day was affected by morning rain, only 52 overs were bowled and the score at stumps was 291 for 2, Carberry 140, McKenzie 95 and it was not until two balls after tea on the final day that McKenzie was out for 237, ct Ballance bowled Wainwright. Carling reached his triple hundred shortly after McKenzie's dismissal, Hampshire then declared and Rudolph and Sayers added 40 before stumps were drawn.  The stand is the highest ever for the third wicket in the county championship.and remains the third highest stand for any wicket, beaten only by two Yorkshire partnerships.*

Leaving aside the pedantry that says that there was not a full day's play last Sunday because the game finished at 5:00  Hain and Rhodes are now part of Yorkshire's history, albeit on the deficit side of the ledger. Whether they are aware of this distinction is not known.

* 555 (1st wicket) Holmes and Sutcliffe Yorkshire v Essex at Leyton 1932

554 (1st wicket) Brown and Tunnicliffe Yorkshire v Derbyshire Chesterfield 1898