Yorkshire seconds top the table.

Posted by Tony Hutton

With so many fixtures in the north of England overlapping this week, we were fortunate to be able to fit in a day at Queens Park, Chesterfield for day three of the second eleven championship match between Derbyshire seconds and Yorkshire seconds. Another of my favourite grounds, dating back to the time I lived in the county during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Nothing much has changed really, although the famous crooked spire is now almost hidden by the growth of all the trees which surround the ground. The miniature railway still toots its way round the lake, populated as ever by ducks and geese.

The pavilion at Queens Park, Chesterfield.

With a predictably small crowd of real enthusiasts, with so much else going on in the county championship, it was a really pleasant day in the sunshine despite the ever present breeze. Derbyshire had secured a first innings lead by scoring 331 to which Yorkshire replied with 287, with Garry Ballance scoring his second century since his recent return to the game against the county he started with briefly as a teenager.

A stern warning notice in the nearby park cafe.

We saw Derbyshire's second innings which revolved around the opening batsman Harry Came who arrived at the county from Hampshire last season. He batted for almost five hours in making 117, with 14 fours to provide the backbone of the innings. Initially he saw off an opening spell from Ben Coad, returning to action following a long injury break and also dealt with the pace bowling of two recent trialists, J.A. Gunn from Doncaster and Mike Finan, a left armer from Cheshire. 

The view from the boundary at Chesterfield.

It was not until late afternoon, after a good half century from Matty McKiernan, that the Yorkshire left arm spinner Harry Sullivan began to work his way through the tail. 208-4 became 231-8 and it was only the return to the crease of opener Wagstaff, who had retired on the previous evening, that brought about some respectability to the final score of 286 all out. Sullivan had excellent figures of 4-48 and the man from Cheshire, Mike Finan, showed good pace with 3-79. Tom Loten also bowled an accurate spell with little reward, but his role in the game was still to come.

Plenty of room in the shade at Chesterfield.

On the final day of this game, a rare day off from live cricket for us, we were following events around the country by live streaming or live scores. As the day progressed events at Chesterfield became even more riveting than those at Riverside and Scarborough. Yorkshire seconds were chasing an unlikely 331 to win, although they had managed something similar last week against Essex.

The chase started badly with Yorkshire losing Bean and Vagadia early on, but the young opener Weston stuck around for a patient 34. With Ballance delaying his appearance to number seven the momentum seemed to have been lost at 137-5 with two wickets each for Potts and Funnell. Ballance made only a swift 20 in partnership with Tom Loten, who had come in at number six.

Loten it was who played the match winning innings, first in a 94 partnership with Ben Coad who made 43 and then after Sullivan went for a duck, with Jack Shutt who contributed a useful 23, with five fours. When he was out at 312-9, with nineteen runs still required it was down to Mike Finan, on his first appearance for Yorkshire to stay with Loten, by now well past his fifty.

This he did with good measure, making 11 not out, while Loten finished on 88 not out as Yorkshire ended the match victors by one wicket at around 5.15 p.m. on the last day of this four day match. A result which took them to the top of the second eleven table. Soon afterwards Yorkshire's first team went down to defeat against Surrey at Scarborough, where the live stream locked just before the crucial last over was bowled!