Nail Biter at The Riverside

 posted by John Winn

The championship match that finished at The Riverside yesterday had several unusual features

• the captain winning the toss opted to bat
• 39 wickets fell but only three batters made fifty
• the top individual score was 51 (George Hill)
• only one team innings passed two hundred and fifty (Yorkshire 254)
• only one batting bonus point was gained in the match
• a batter not in the original XI was allowed to bat in the second innings as a concussion substitute 
• barely anytime was lost through rain
• it was so cold on Friday that I left at lunchtime
• Durham won by one wicket when a batter who needed a runner hit the winning runs

Durham had not played Yorkshire in four day cricket since 2016 when the visitors won the toss and opted to bat on a sunny Thursday morning. This was not quite the gamble it might seem for the forecast suggested that the first day would offer better batting conditions than the second, and this proved to be the case, and secondly opener Adam Lyth was in splendid form having hit a magnificent 174 just a few days earlier against Glamorgan. Alas Lord Mayor's show and all that for after just ten deliveries Lyth was on his way, well caught by Clark in the gully off Potts. Masood on his Yorkshire debut made 44 but although five of his team mates could be said to have got their feet under the table none went on to make fifty and only a last wicket stand of 36 brought Yorkshire a batting bonus point

Durham fared no better, losing openers Lees and Jones before stumps and like Yorkshire they relied on a last wicket stand to bring respectability. Yorkshire's second innings started no better than the first, Lyth bagging a pair, out first ball this time, which brought Bean, unlucky to be dropped in my opinion, to the crease in place of the injured Shakeel, lucky to be playing in the opinion of more than me. Bean, Malan  Bairstow and Hill all got a start and at 145 for 4, a lead of 172 it was beginning to look as though Durham might be set an awkward fourth innings target. Enter Raine and Potts and the last six fell for 73.

Durham, set 246 to win, got off to a good start but the middle and lower order were swept aside  until Raine and Potts, this time with the bat, held out to close of play including the extra half hour to set up a fascinating last day. 33 to win, two wickets to take and number 11, Carse, injured. How far would you travel to watch what might be not more than an over's play? A family commitment saved me making that awkward decision but free admission persuaded 245 to come through the turnstiles. I decided it would be rude to have my phone switched on while in conversation with my brother-in-law and his partner so it was 12:15 before I checked the scores to find Durham had got home by one wicket, that the winning runs had been scored by Carse, batting with a runner but the real heroes were Raine and Potts whose ninth wicket stand had yielded 71 to leave their team within touching distance of their third victory of the season, all at The Riverside.

Yorkshire will perhaps be pleased that next time they take the field, on Saturday at Edgbaston, the ball will be a different colour and the game will be much shorter. Yes its that time of the year again, T20,
but in the meantime Durham travel to Bristol looking to extend their lead at the top of the table before we have a break from championship cricket four weeks. 

Queen's Park Chesterfield, will Yorkshire will face Derbyshire on Sunday June 11th

The deckchair gets an airing

 posted by John Winn

Yesterday, after lunch with my wife at a local pub, I returned home and on a beautiful afternoon, opened the shed, disturbed the deckchair from its winter hibernation, dusted it off and settled down to listen to BBC commentary from Headingley with occasional excursions to other grounds. Just three days earlier I had watched the first day of the Yorkshire/Glamorgan match wearing my cold weather jacket and not once did I feel like removing it. I did not stay long enough to see Yorkshire lose five wickets before close of play and a poor forecast for Friday put me off returning to LS6 for the second day when they were bowled out for 106. 

Saturday was a much warmer day and I travelled in hope to St George's Road, Harrogate where Sheriff Hutton Bridge were the visitors. I stayed a couple of hours catching up with my friend Les Pennington who I had not seen since January, but despite the sunshine there was no cricket as the ground stubbornly refused to dry sufficiently to allow play. Tea(sic) was taken at 13:15, numerous inspections followed but all to no avail and by 15:00 I was on my way home wishing I had driven a dozen miles further and gone to Headingley where I could have seen Labuschagne make 170 not out which went a long way towards the 492 Yorkshire were set to win. 

Back to the deckchair and Yorkshire kept the crowd and listeners to the commentary enthralled to the very end when Thompson, having reached his fifty, safely played out the last over from Neser while the injured Coad, who fortunately did not have to face, watched from the non-striker's end. Yorkshire travel to The Riverside this week, presumably without Coad but under a new captain, Shan Masood, who had such an outstanding season for Derbyshire in 2022.The forecast isn't great but I have every intention of being there  for the first championship match since 2016 between my county of birth and my county of residence. 

Headingley did not have a monopoly on close finishes yesterday. What would you have paid to see Broad facing Anderson and taking fifty balls to score three?  As if this was not enough "Ashes hopeful Olly Stone"*  was undefeated on nought having limped from the field earlier in the day. At Derby, Leicestershire showed plenty of spirit and scored just enough to make Derbyshire bat again setting a target of fifty four from three overs but after phone calls to the ECB and a twenty minute delay this was reduced to one over which was bowled by Ackermann and defended by Haider Ali. Elsewhere Northants thwarted Somerset, Surrey had three wickets in hand when stumps were pulled but an Essex victory had been a possibility until Jamie Smith and Jordan Clark stopped the rot. Earlier in the dayWarwickshire crushed Hants and are now level on points at the top of Division One with Surrey. 

                                                                            

And now for last week's homework for which you were asked to say how many of these clubs who were operating in the High Peak League about 80 years ago are still in existence today. Perhaps surprisingly only one of the clubs seems to have vanished without trace, Bradbury St M while Stockport SS** merged with Stockport in 1998 and Compstall seem to have become a feeder club for Marple. Birch Vale are now known as Birch Vale and Thornsett. New Mills, Dove Holes, Whaley Bridge, Hayfield, and Hazel Grove play in Derbyshire and Cheshire Div 1, Chapel (en le Frith) and Birch Vale in Div 2. Romiley are in Cheshire Div 2. 

* I newspaper's words not mine. 

** SS stood for Sunday School

Four Days Cricket

 posted by John Winn

Tomorrow I shall travel to Headingley for the first day of the championship match against Glamorgan. The forecast suggests that whilst flags may rest without fear of being cracked I stand a good chance of seeing a day's cricket thus continuing a reasonable run despite what for many has been a very wet spring. Last weekend I saw cricket on four successive days, not without interruption from the weather but enough play to make my journeys worthwhile. 

On Thursday I travelled to Chester le Street when despite occasional patchy rain 92 overs were bowled and Durham by their own choice made good use of the wicket to score at more than four an over, a rate that has become characteristic of their cricket this season. 63 for the first wicket, Lees setting the pace then a slight slump to 126 for 4 before Clark and Robinson added 106 with Robinson going onto his first century for the Prince Bishops. As on my previous visit to Riverside this season I opted to stay overnight but woke to forecast steady rain on Friday. Good work by the ground staff allowed play to start at 12:15 and Carse, aided by Coughlin and Potts, completed his maiden first class century. Then followed a passage of play that delights old buffers like me and baffles Americans. 

After Carse hit a mighty six that had those of us in the north west corner cowering for cover, Durham declared leaving time for just one over before lunch from the fifth ball of which Godleman was lbw Raine, a common mode of dismissal this season, and off they came for lunch. Shortly after which Derbyshire were 6 for 4 and wickets continued to fall at regular intervals until a last wicket stand between Reece and Conners saw them to 165 all out. 

Second time around things got no better for The Peakites until Lamb and Reece added 149 for the sixth but when the end came it came quickly. LBW Raine saw the back of Lamb for 91 at which points four quick wickets for Potts cemented Durham's place at the top of the division. 

On Saturday I took in my first league cricket of the season when Ouseburn CC 1st XI welcomed Masham to Lightmire Lane, arriving in time to see the visitors collapse from 50 for 1 to 69 all out. The response of Masham's tail to the fall of wickets was to give it the old heave-ho to little effect other than  to ensure that more than twenty of their overs were not used, overs that might have yielded enough runs to make the outcome much tighter. As it was Ouseburn got home by four wickets. 

More club cricket on Sunday but higher up the pyramid when I made the trip to St George's Road Harrogate to see The Roosters take on Hartlepool in a National Club Championship match. Rain halted proceedings after 31 overs and the match was abandoned. Because of league commitments next weekend Hartlepool have conceded the tie.

Tomorrow sees the fifth round of matches in this year's championship and I suppose Surrey's impressive start will give prominence to their trip to Chelmsford but Broad and Anderson on opposite sides whets the appetite for Trent Bridge and in the basement it's Somerset v Northants. Only three matches in Division Two and Derbyshire (bottom) entertain Leicestershire (second) and for the latter a good result could see them go top. 

 

This week's homework, how many of these sides still exist?