CLOSE OF PLAY, DAY TWO:
Worcestershire 415, Yorkshire 55-1 (Worcs 5 pts, Yorks 3 pts)
BBC Radio: Link New Road ground guide:Link Weather:Link Yorkshire CC form guide (Most recent last) D D D D L
League table: Link Yorkshire averages: Link Worcestershire averages: link Worcestershire website: Link Yorkshire's all-time CC record vs Worcestershire: P 135 W 66 T 0 L 21 D 48
Stats & Trivia: Worcestershire's lowest total against Yorkshire was 24 at Fartown, Huddersfield in 1903
Next Match : June 22 | T20: Yorkshire vs. Notts (Trent Bridge)
Cally and Co. are speculating that Rashid, Bresnan and even Vaughan might be chosen for the extended Ashes squad. That would be a body blow for the Tykes, since it seems that whether or not players actually play for England, once they are chosen they are lost to their teams for extended periods, even if its only to act as the "drinks waiter."
Given our position in the table (8th and falling), our chances of saving the season might be all but killed off, if we lose these three.
23 runs in the first hour would also suggest to me that the win is not an option, it looks like bat as long as we can and get a draw. No ambition and at the current rate not many batting bonus points.
There goes Vaughan. 43! Will he ever really come off again? Is it time for Chris Taylor to be given a go, our did Vaughnie "look good enough" today to be given yet another match?
I'm with the Old Git. If he can't put runs on the board, I could care less how good he looks. After all, we are trying to win matches here, not showcase Vaughan's cover drive.
There goes McGrath and he gave away his wicket with a terrible shot. Not exactly a captain's innings. 400 up? Not a chance, we are now in a struggle to avoid the follow on against the bottom team. Oh dear.
again a very poor shot from mcgrath straight up in the air to the keeper. he did exactly the same thing in the last game i saw at headingley. vaughan apparrently unlucky with a fierce shot through the gully area well caught by batty.
Vaughan's always "unlucky," isn't he? In my part of the county (Hull), we make our own luck and don't make excuses for repeated failure. In my opinion, Vaughan and Yorkshire are headed for division two.
It looks to as if the team has given up on the match and the season. Where is the leadership, the plan, the Yorkshire grit? I'm so disappointed in this team.
we lost 4 wickets for 11 runs in 4 overs. our in form bairstow out first ball.surely someone can get back to the calm progress of sayers and vaughan when they put on 82 earlier.
If McGrath continues to bat Vaughan at three, and if they leave the likes of Ballance, Root and Taylor in the seconds while the so-called first team players fail match after match, I'll have to reconsider my membership for 2010.
Is it time for McGrath to step aside? The players seem to have given up on his leadership.
Steve C - cancel the B&B for tonight and come home.
Dews et al - make the most of the cakes today as you won't be there tomorrow
Mags - please pick up your pen and paper and send a letter to the committee offering your immediate resignation
Vaughan - please go back to England and learn how to build a longer innings once again and when you have done so we will consider your recall to the team
Johnny Bairstow - stick to batting and tell them where to put the gloves for now
It is dog walking time I have waited until now as did not want to "walk a wicket". Hopefully Worcestershire can not do much damage during the lunch-break. Probably be all out by the time I return around 3 pm.
If we lose this match and get less than two batting points (i.e under 250 in our first innings), we go to last place in the table. One has to wonder, if that will our permanent position for the rest of the season.
Yes, we did finish last once before - in 1983 in the old one division set-up, we were 17th of 17. We won 1 lost 5 and drew 17 (one abandoned match) that season. We have never finished last (9th of 9) in the two division setup.
97-1 becomes 122-5 ... same old same old. One mate texted me to say Vaughan should go on after making as start as he's getting out far too often in such a situation. The guy in question is a big Vaughan fan!!
At least we'll get to see some different grounds next season .... & it will be 2 games less against Durham
Yorkshire remind me of my old row boat ("The White Rose," incidentally) which towards the end was springing leaks all over the place. I'd patch one leak up, and it would leak somewhere else. I knew full well that one day the hull would give way and it would sink. It did!
Perhaps today is one such day in Yorkshire's history. This boat will just no longer float.
Maybe we need a new boat, a new perspective, a new plan, new leadership, even a new captain.
I eventually bought a new boat, with a different design, and it is working really well.
To many on the site are guilty of an over reaction but I agree things need to be addressed.
I'm with the concenus that we need a change of coach and probably a change of captain although a top notch coach could probably make up for Mags obvious tactical short comings.
The great frustration is that the players available are good enough to compete towards the top of this division never mind avoid relegation. We continually deploy our resources poorly, frequently select the 'wrong' team, show minimial invention, play a hugely predictable game especially in the field and generally look rudderless.
It's a bit like the non playing side who fail to register players, have the ground looking like a building site when the biggest test ever staged at the ground is weeks away, actively encourage 'laddish' culture at the 20/20 to the detriment of the silent majority and have the one day international washed out due to a late running drainage system. We have no clarity of thought in any aspect of the club, so it's unlikely the SMT can address the obviously cricketing weakness.
The real frustration is as I say above, the team are not that far from being pretty good and with the right leadership could be championship contenders.
Sid - suggest you read back through your post now you have posted it and you may well feel that you are with the majority of us in terms of what needs changing and then you are either over-reacting yourself or it really is that bad!
if nothing changes then we will get relegated.
if we try and change something or somebody at least we will give ourselves a chance.
Moxon reports to the board of whom only Boycott has any cricketing experience. Boycott due to his many other commitments has the worst attendance at board meetings so this may be Moxons saving grace.
Fortunately, for Moxon the Board have other areas of focus rather than the playing side - perhaps if they read the back page of the papers rather than the business pages they may realise where we are in the table and act
You are right: last we were in 2002. Perhaps the "Ludovico Reclamation Treatment" I underwent in order to rid my mind of the appalling memories of that disastrous season, actually worked. But that's all being undone again. It's all coming back now.
It worked - no wickets down while dog walking but watch out now. And no, I am not taking the dog out again as I am playing cricket tonight, so we will just have to manage without the secret weapon.
Whatever happens in this match, win draw or lose, we have been shown that we are either the second worse or the worst team in this Division and we are going down. We can either go down picking the same old players or we can go down playing some of the second teamers and giving them a chance. Win draw or lose, we need some changes now.
MV made captain, Rudolph back to 5, 3 seamers and 2 spinners for the rest of the season, Taylor, Lyth or Root giving an extended run.
My team: Sayers, Vaughan (capt), Taylor/Root/Lyth, Mags, Rudolph, Brophy or Bairstow, Rashid, Naved, Bresnan, Wainwright or Rafiq, Shazad.
we are all advocating changes but when we put them down on paper we are not really maing changes to personnel but changing the captain and the batting order.
At the moment we are relying heavily on a couple of players we think should be left out - hope they can handle the added pressure
I'm new to the forum but have been reading for sometime! hope i'm ok to join the discussion being a big YCC fan!
What about this from Andrew Gale!? don't wanna put the mockers on but it's superb to see! Amazing what the 20/20 can do and i saw it last week against Somerset with my own eyes that Galey was ready to kick on with a decent score in the champo and it looks like it's happening today!
Superb!! and it now puts the cat amongst the pigeons even more with the middle order with surely vaughan and mcgrath under huge pressure now for a score??
Delighted for the lad as he has took (like others) some OTT stick on here IMO when i have been reading. Rudolph, Vaughan and McGrath are surely under more pressure to keep their places?? Or thats how it should be to me.
Well done to Gale and Bresnan - a very welcome partnership. Hopefully, Gale can survive the imminent new ball and show the coach that he is an opening bat and would compliment Sayers' more cautious approach. Bresnan needed a confidence boost and it would be good if he can convert into big hundred.
It does seem crazy that one of England's greatest ever captains is not being used in that role for his club side. Mags is a good batsman but surely Vaughan would provide more inspired leadership.
Bairstow has made an exciting start with his 80 odd not out but Brophy has been one of our more relaible batsmen this season (when fit) so maybe both should play. Fitting Gale and Lyth in will then be difficult if Sayers, Rudolph, Vaughan and Mags all keep their spots. And that's not evening mentioning Root and Taylor who are in-form for the Seconds.
We seem to be over-run with 'quality' players yet frankly the team is a shambles. Are the players actually not as good as we think or is it poor management?
most of us have a habit of posting something which immediately is made to look stupid (a post of someone is batting really well is soon followed by his dismissal and a post of so and so should be dropped usually inspires him to score a ton).
when a big recovery stand is evolving its best to say nowt and not tempt fate - and naturally by posting this I fear I am running the risk of doing exactly what I have just outlined!
The problem with Yorkshire is that the whole team is totally inconsistant. Gale played a stupid shot against Somerset & I know I would have dropped him for it, yet today he is a saviour. As has already been said all of our 'main' bowlers can take 5 wickets in one game & get none in the next.
A good arguement can be made for dropping virtually any member of the team .. normally the one who gets most criticism on here is the 'man of the match' in the following game.
The one constant is dropping catches. The fielding must be tightened up.
I do know that something has to be done ... & soon if we don't want to be relegated .... the problem is what ... talk of sacking people is just silly ... it wont happen during the season ... I do wonder if Mags should stand down as captain though ... as with many I'd give Vaughan a go ... if only to make sure that Virgil is picked for England.
....saved. Surely we can manage a draw now!!! Does not change things a lot, we are still on of the two worst teams in the Division but at least we should get a draw.
Welcome to "Hosom", we are all a moaning bunch but we all want Yorkshire to win every match it`s just we all have different opinions on how to achieve that aim.
perhaps Mags and Rudolph need a rest as they must have played every game this season so far.
Sayers and Hoggy miss the one day stuff, we have rested Rana for this game, Vaughan and Brophy have missed due to injury, Rashid carries Englands drinks, Bres has a rest whilst playing a test match when he rarely gets a bowl and the other fast bowlers seem to be rotated. Similarly, others like Pyrah and Lyth only seem to play in the one dayers.
Missing a game may not only charge the batteries of rudy and Mags it may make them raise their game when they return if the second teamer has grabbed his chance.
i'm amazed how many don bradmans and WG Graces are on here. The lads go from 20/20 to Championship in the space of days and then will go back again, totally different games requiring totally different shots. It's only human nature that after 2 weeks of 20/20, some of them find it difficult to get back to playing championship style cricket.
it's not as easy as people think just to click back into championship mode and the ball that should be left alone that is played at is inevitably going to happen. Rana 1st inns last week for example
Even in the middle of a superb stand between Galey and Bres, the critics still moan about other things instead of basking in the delight of it.
I dont think we can hide behind the T20/Championship break. Its a level playing field, all the teams have to deal with it. Worcestershire seemed to manage it with ease racking up their 415.
And to be honest its not just this game. We have been poor all season (the table doesnt lie and we're near the bottom). And its actually been going on longer than that, we havent won a CC match for over a year.
As for being critical when we're doing well, it would seem incredibly fickle to just go from praise to criticism over one session of cricket. There is a bigger picture here and its not pretty.
(And we can still enjoy the fine stand of Bresnan and Gale yet remain objective about the teams problems.)
Can I remind our new poster that even though Bressy & Gale have done very well we are still over 100 behind Worcester ... a team who've lost all but 1 of their previous championship matches in 2009 ... & we all know who the draw was against.
Some of us are completely worn down by swatching a team that has talented members who dont perform consistently together. When I first became a member we used to be beaten by the other counties stars ... today any ball could start a collapse & the fall of the opposition's 6th wicket has us expecting the score will double before they are all out
Pity about Bres, but the effort has been commendable after morning disaster. If we can further narrow gap and maybe reach another bonus point, it would be good.
It's all gone a bit quiet on here now it's going well. Seeing as it was all Moxon and McGrath's fault that the batting collapsed, shouldn't they now be praised for the recovery?
I must admit that at 108/5 the player I least wanted to see still at the crease was Gale. But fair play to him he has dug us out of a big hole. I feared this was last chance saloon for him in the championship for this season, as a failure in this match would result in him being dropped. I still think Lyth is the more likely of the two to 'make it' at this level but credit where credit is due, well done Andrew. I honestly did not think he had it in him to rescue us from that situation - I'm pleased to have been wrong.
I am not aware of anyone who has any interest in Yorkshire cricket who thinks Rudolph should still be opening!
I would suggest declaring overnight, thus preventing Worcs (a fellow relegation candidate/certainty) from gaining another bowling point. There is only one team that can win now and thats Yorkshire (excluding the possibility of collusion between Mags & Solanki). To take 12pts (v's Worcs 11pts) from this match would not be at all bad after losing the toss and a bit of rain. We will then have a bit of a break for the 20/20 to sort ourselves out properly before resuming the championship.
"It's all gone a bit quiet on here now it's going well. Seeing as it was all Moxon and McGrath's fault that the batting collapsed, shouldn't they now be praised for the recovery?"
Well I know I for one am delighted that we look like getting a draw against the worst team in the division, a team who loses to everyone except us. Truly is HAPPY DAYS.
My understanding, which may be completely wrong, is that Vaughan could have had the captaincy for the 2009 Season, had he wanted it. So too, could Hoggard!
Hoggard stated publicly that he did not want it and Vaughan went on record as saying that he intended to focus on regaining his place in the Test side. Consequently, on balance, the job was given to Mags ahead of Rudolph. Probably, on the basis that only two non-Yorkshiremen have been appointed Yorkshire Captain in over 100 years. Lord Hawke made some sort of success of it, whilst it is argued that Lehmann was (shall we say) less successful. The truth is, of course, that Austtralia, somewhat belatedly, welcomed Darren into the fold, and consequently, his time as YCCC Captain was curtailed.
Whilst, being an outspoken critic of McGrath's tactical shortcomings, I would not be in favour of passing the captaincy over to Vaughan at the present time.
As Mags was given the job, he should do it through to the end of the season, when the situation should be properly reviewed in an orderly manner. Similarly, with Moxon!
Of course, were either of them to seek to relinquish their responsibilities before the end of the season, then the YCCC Board should accept their resignation and make appropriate arrangements for the rest of the season.
What seems clear to me, is that we find ourselves in this woeful position largely because of "knee-jerk" decisions made in the winter/spring of 2006/2007. With the massive youthful potential available to us at that time, what we needed was a developmental approach, but unfortunately, we went for what (with the gift of hindsight) looks increasingly like a "quick fix". Moxon and Gough came back, development stalled and here we are mid-way through 2009 and not a step further forward.
There are many plusses which YCCC has gained as a result of the appointment of the YCCC Board, but cricketing performance on the field is not one of them.
The knowledge base, on the Board, of what is needed to create a successful cricket team is too narrow and too part-time.
The situation cries out for a Cricket Management Committee, to which the Director of Cricket and County Captain are accountable. This could be chaired by a Board Member and be made up of, perhaps 4, elected representatives of the YCCC membership (one to be a former player, one to be an experienced club/league cricketer and two ordinary members of at least three years experience and one with at least 10 years).
Absolutely wonderful day at New Road. Absolutely marvellous.
Strange start from Vaughan this morning, who wafted at the first ball outside off stump, played and missed at the next ball and finally managed a Chinese cut to fine leg. It took him about five overs to settle down, and then neither he nor Sayers looked in much trouble until Whelan came on. Whelan's a couple of yards quicker than the rest of the Worcs. bowling and, given that Sayers never accelerates, it looked as though MV had decided he was going to go after him. After top-edging a hook over the wicket-keeper for six, he seemed in two minds on the next ball and cut it fairly fiercely, but quite catchably, into Batty's midriff.
What Anthony McG was doing is anybody's guess, but it wasn't exactly what the doctor ordered. Vaughan looked too tense this morning and McGrath too relaxed, though who knows what they were feeling inside. Sayers perished to a sort of rabbit-in-headlights up-periscope job against Noffke, which was odd because he'd looked quite sharp most of the morning. The people around me seemed to think Bairstow got the best ball of the day - a shortish ball that just skidded about two inches above stump height. I'm not sure Bairstow saw it clearly, but there was the tiniest deflection and then the keeper and slips juggled the ball three times.
I went for an extended walk round Worcester at lunch, expecting to get back to see Yorkshire 140 for 8, but Bresnan and Gale were calmly flogging the bowling all round the ground five minutes after the restart, as though nothing had happened. Bresnan has been head and shoulders above every other player in this match. I think if you were a visitor from outer space, you'd have assumed he was the Yorkshire captain (now, there's an idea). He made an absolutely chanceless 97 with the kind of imperious batting you used to get at New Rd from Graeme Hick. It was all proper cricket shots, by the way - absolutely textbook. The only piece of "hitting" was a lofted four over long on off Batty. And Bresnan looked much more secure than Gale, who gave the odd chance.
Worcester seemed to have decided the best way to get Gale out was to feed him short balls on leg stump, which, for some reason, he kept pulling to the boundary. After the 170 partnership, it always looked as though we were likely to get a lead, but 400 looked difficult within the 110 overs. Enter Azeem Rafiq, clean hitter of the week, who hit three towering sixes, one of them over the trees on the Cathedral side. Locals scratching their heads to remember when they had last been cleared by such a margin. After the ball that got Mitchell in the first innings, I think Rafiq, like Bairstow, should be among the first five names on the team sheet.
There's a lot of criticism of the Yorkshire management and backroom staff, but who has any idea with the present Yorkshire squad which player is going to turn up on the day? If you'd seen Michael Vaughan yesterday, you'd have given him the England captaincy. Today he didn't look an awful lot better than Chris Taylor. I have to admit to coming back and having a good laugh reading this thread. It would be helpful if people could indicate whether they're listening to the radio commentary or just watching Cricinfo or something. I do wonder what Dave Callaghan must be saying at times. I've tended to assume he reads a game quite well, but I only ever need to listen to him when I'm not at the match.
Don't know if I can spare the time to go tomorrow. No cakes either. Must dash off to water the allotment.
Just back after a gruelling drive.
A strange day. The bowling before lunch was whole-hearted. Whelan had a yard of pace on the others, though Noffke was also a handful at times. Just at the point when it seemed as if Sayers and Vaughan had got over the opening burst, the innings imploded. It seemed to me that there was a hint of uneven bounce; a few balls seemed to get up a little higher than the batsmen expected. Vaughan, who was never fluent today, despite a lovely on-drive four or five overs in, drilled a ball he didn't get on top of to gully. McGrath top edged a lazy pull and Sayers seemed startled by a rising ball that he guided to gully as if giving fielding practice. Poor Bairstow seemed startled by another quickish ball with a bit of height on it. He couldn't get out of the way and Dewsburian's young Adonis was felled.
108 for 5 and I expected the worst. Bresnan was superb; Gale only a little bit behind him. Both showed great concentration and still took the opportunity to attack. Gale pulled well - memorably, three consecutive fours off Kabir Ali whilst Bresnan traded in a back-foot force through cover that brought him a lot of runs from all the bowlers. I was sorry that he failed to get to his hundred. He looked a talented batsman today and also a very mature one. It was my misfortune that I left immediately after Gale's hundred (I'm so pleased for him. A totally different effort to his stirring 20/20 exploits but it must have been so satisfying for him.) Coming home to discover that young Rafeeq had managed to score over 60 in the time left before close of play astonished me. It had been quite hard work up to that point. What a talented boy he must be.
Outside the cricket and the cake, the highspot was the lugubrious Worcester announcer failing to raise any enthusiasm at all for the forthcoming event at New Road, featuring would-be 'Grease' singalongs. Looking at the crowd (average age 135) I suppose I could see his point. By comparison our jaunty Mr.Loffill is Peter Kaye. The low point was the baleful sight of poor old Simon Jones sitting alone on the balcony looking as if his world had fallen in. What a terrific bowler he once was; how much more satisfying today would have been had he been playing and in his pomp.
A final thought. After nine sessions the game is at stalemate and tomorrow is likely to be a day for going through the motions. A draw is too valuable an outcome for teams at the bottom end of the table. I'd prefer to see the inducement of 20 points for a win; 3 points for a draw and 3 bonus points each for batting and bowling. Maybe Yorkshire might then have given at least some thought to a declaration a hundred behind.
My thanks, too, to Tyke 1950. You did miss a real treat in the Rafiq innings, which was definitely the icing on the cake (sorry!). And Shahzad and Hoggard backed him up well, Hoggard hitting a powerful drive through midwicket to earn the last batting point. Rafiq played and missed a bit, and one of his sixes was a mis-hit hook - the second mis-hit six of the day! - but he generally chose the right balls to hit and hit them very sweetly. Whelan (or possibly Mason, I forget which) slightly helped his cause by bowling four short balls in a row at him, all of which were punched away for four. Where I was (in the covered area at the New Road end), there were three standing ovations in the last session. The biggest was probably Bresnan's, but the second biggest was for Azeem Rafiq.
By the way, RO Adonis played just one match for Guyana, taking 1 for 80, but not batting in either innings (hardly surprising with Clive Lloyd, Alvin Kallicharran and Roy Fredericks in the team).
been chatting to a player tonight and apparently Worcester have little interest in setting a target. Shame and a bit baffled by that too seeing as they are bottom
In response to Hosom, I suppose they may yet find Yorkshire set them a target. Could I just commend the Cricinfo report again today? You just go to the live score and click on the word "Bulletin" on the right of the page. If I'd read it earlier, I could have saved myself five minutes' typing.
At least it confirms that Vaughan was "majestic" last evening. I was beginning to think I'd dreamt that. And it's right, I think, that Bresnan dominated the partnership with Gale, but my chief impression wasn't of Bresnan's "fight", which suggests grim determination, but more of his quiet authority. It wasn't "I'm going to battle through this"; it was more "what's all the fuss about?"
To be honest we are the only team who can win this now so I wouldnt even give them a sniff by engineering a positive result. Especially after we've clawed out way back from the brink (and if we declare now can keep them from earning a 3rd bowling bonus point).
Lets see what we can do with the ball. If we skittle them out cheaply then game on. Otherwise we take the 12 points and then hope to win some games after making changes for the season run in.
putting aside our yorky hat and the league positions, the people heading down there tomorrow surely want to see some entertaining cricket? This is the entertainment business aint it!? the bottom 2 sides in desperate need of a win, i think it's a poor state of affairs that it seems solanki has no intention of setting a target (hope i'm proved wrong!).
that last day v sussex had everything. a sensational days cricket and a great advert for the champo. why not make tomorrow the same?? he who dares wins!
There shouldn't be. Denying a rival a point, especially against a team you are battling with to avoid demotion, would seem to be a legitimate and intelligent tactic. Remember, it was only 2006 when we avoided the drop to division two by ONE POINT.
Yorkshire should absolutely declare. There is "no point, "if you pardon the pun, in batting on.
First - its great to see such a spirited fightback the like of which we usually see from the other side of the fence (bar Sussex last season perhaps). well done to Galey, Bres, Rafiw and even Hoggy. I think we have to bat on and see where we end up as a lead of around 100 (Kruis is perfect for this situation) may just swing the game in our favour without contrived declarations. Long shot but perhaps our best chance of winning.
Second - much as I welcome the batting recovery, it still does not hide the weaknesses in some of our decision making from Mags and Moxon. This includes the batting order of the top 4 which if we get right might not even need Rafiq etc to have a bat. It also does not hide some of the bowling order decisions and the selection of 4 samey seamers instead of 2 different spinners who we would be crying out for now in this situation.
Third - it does not remove the fact that they got over 400 in first innings partly due to our continued dropped catches. Practice, practice, practice...
So - happier than I was at 1pm yesterday but if we are to improve further there are still things we can do better - lets not celebrate just because we have got ourselves out of the mire against the bottom team in the league or this suggests we have settled to be in a relegation scrap as well instead of fulfilling our potential as top half of the table contenders. We are wasting a real opportunity to succeed which some apparent changes could resolve.
Hopefully this will now come back to haunt me as we romp to victory today as a result of Mags inspired leadership and bowling changes, stunning one handed catches and the four samey seamers ripping through their batting order.
Thanks to T19xx for his report .... shame you had to leave before the end ... & to TC for his thoughts (& especially last sentence which we all hope is true).
Yorks will probably be OK to delcare as it would be advancing the game. I can understand why Worcs wouldn't want to risk setting us a total, every point matters atm. Whilst we've pulled ourselved from the 108-5 mire plase remember that this is against a team who've been beaten by every other side they've faced. Its time to start admitting that 2009 is going to be a relegation dogfight for Yorks ... the main problem being that I just cant see where the wins we need are going to come from ... especially as it looks more & more likely that Rashid will be 'with England'
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