Not a bad start

posted by John Winn

At 9:20 on Thursday morning I was not going to Headingley, at 9:25 I was on my way. I had vacillated all week whether to attend the first day of the first class cricket season and after seeing Paul Hudson's forecast on Wednesday evening which promised a showery opening day I decided not to attend, a state of mind which did not change until shortly before half past nine the next morning. What caused this abrupt change?  The sun came out, I remembered how much I had been looking forward to meeting old friends and my wife told me to stop dilly dalllying and I was on my way. 

Having paid the tax now imposed on members to enter the long room, £15 for the season, I met up with old friends Jennifer Ellison and Stuart Wrigley for coffee, shared our varying opinions on the rights and wrongs of the signing of SD Hope and took our seats to see Leicestershire, having won the toss, take the field with Messrs Lyth and Bean opening for Yorkshire. No Root, Brook or Bairstow of course, although encouragingly the last of these was seen in the nets before the call of play. The sun shone and Yorkshire made good progress so that by the time Hudson's revenge arrived mid afternoon in the shape of a heavy almost wintery shower which caused an influx of taxpayers* to seek the shelter of the long room, last year's wooden spoonists found themselves in a familiar position with Malan and Bean enjoying some fairly moderate bowling. Mr Bean feasted on Rehan Ahmed's opening over to the tune of 22 runs and throughout the day Malan showed what a class act he is. 

The severity of the rain convinced that there would be a long wait before there was any more play and so I left but returned on Friday when a better forecast had increased the crowd considerably and by the time I left at tea, Leicestershire had lost three wickets in response to Yorkshire's 517.

                                                                              

                                                   Friday afternoon in the Upper North East 

As I type, 11:45 Sunday morning,Yorkshire  despite a lead of almost four hundred, continue their second innings but with a scoring rate of over five an over surely a declaration cannot be far away. Elsewhere, in Division One Hampshire have beaten Notts inside two days, Lancashire probably need to bat all day to avoid defeat against Surrey at Old Trafford, at Canterbury Kent need to score a trifle more than they did in their first innings to beat Northants while at Lord's Middlesex are now seven down in their second innings and facing defeat against Essex. At Taunton where the first day was washed out, more of which anon, a draw seems the only outcome. In Division Two a decent last day is in prospect at Derby where Worcestershire are the visitors, a draw seems likely between Glamorgan and Gloucestershire at Cardiff and Sussex should just scrape home against Durham at Hove. 

The second round of matches begins on Thursday with sixteen counties in action, Glamorgan and Sussex are resting, and Surrey v Hants looks the pick in Division One. 

Finally and back to Taunton where there was no play on Thursday, the game eventually started at noon on Friday, the county's Facebook page has presented some Somerset supporters with the opportunity to vent their spleens especially those who travelled quite long distances to find there would be no cricket.  Mr Charles Maggs took the biscuit and opened a can of worms, mixed metaphor there John,  and proposed that all these opening matches should have been played in the Middle East. And there's me thinking I was ill served by having to pay to go into the Long Room. 

* Given the absence of a steward on one of the doors there may even have been some non doms.