CLOSE OF PLAY, DAY THREE:
Durham 178 and 288-7, Yorkshire 313(Yorkshire 6 pts, Durham 3pts)
Headingley Carnegie:Link Weather:Link Yorkshire CC form guide (Most recent last) D D L D L
League table: Link Yorkshire averages: Link BBC Radio: Link Durham website: Link Next Match : July 15 | PRO40: Yorkshire vs. Worcester (Worcester)
...., even the draw as "heavy showers" are forecast. I have a nasty feeling about this one, Harmy on a final day wicket, us needing possibly 200 plus and the fact we have "forgotten how to win" and do no longer have, if we ever had it, the ability to finish teams off. Hope I am totally wrong but I am very apprehensive that this will all go pear-shaped. It was about 200 we needed against Kent last year at Scarborough and almost lost. We have also had first innings leads and been in winning positions several other times this season and not got the win. I will believe it when the winning run has been scored and it is in the scorebook.
Today is a must win for me - to get the monkey off our backs for the longest non-winning streak, to climb the table, to give all you loyal fans going to Headingley today chance to see victory, to shut up Durham Forever and to show we can do it.
If we can beat Durham it shows we can beat any other county if we turn up and play to our best.
Weather forecast I saw was not as bad as earlier so hopefully we will have time to get them all out before lunch and then knock off the runs in over 2 sessions.
Harmi may of course sense an England recall is around the corner - hope this makes him try to hard and lose his radar!
massive is not the word, beat the top team and the confidence boost could well drive us on to safety. Lose again and I really fear for us. Someone can be a hero today.
We really have played some good cricket and at times have looked a better side than last year, the only problem being is that we are slipping away and confidence is low.
Its going to be a massive test to get around 200 not in terms of skills but mentally, at times the senior players have scored easy runs we'll need a big contributions from Rudolph and Mags, should be a good days cricket
What did Wayne Clark say, the team have to enjoy the cricket and play with a smile on their face, lets hope we can knock over the tail quickly that will help
Watching over the last two days, the players have looked very subdued at times. This recent run must be affecting morale.I think we've played the best cricket in this game and deserve to win - I'd like to see mags lead from the front with a good score...
I think some of it may be due to nerves - the team like us no a win is long overdue and that they are in a good position to try and win this game but this then puts them under added pressure which can only get worse if the Durham tail wags.
Whats the realistic target and time that we think we should still be capable of chasing in the current position?
I would like to see us be positive and go for anything up to 250 even if we only have 50 overs
You really do have to wonder if McGrath shouldn't step down. Its obvious the team aren't going to win under his leadership. We have to try something different.
Of course it wasn't his decision to sign the inept Rana Naved as our overseas player, but this team is totally demoralized. Sad days these.
A bitterly disappoinmting morning for Yorkshire as 8th wicket pair Mustard and Plunkett extend Durhams lead past 250.
Neither batsman looked remotely troubled as the lack lustre attack plugged away with little hope and no inspiration as heads went out all around ,and the silence was deafening on the field.
They may yet be bowled out or even declare,but Yorkshire's hope of ending their dismal run look as far away as ever,and Durham by their fight back prove why they are worthy champions now, and likely to be so again.
They prevent Onions from playing which gives Harmison the perfect opportunity to impress the selecters without any serious competition. If I was Graeme Onions I'd be absolutely furious...
I can see Benkenstein declaring after 20 minutes of tonking.
It's worth noting that Yorkshire has had a first innings lead in each of their last SIX matches, but for one reason or the other just can't finish teams off.
I'd be shopping around for a quality overseas strike bowler ASAP, so that Yorkshire can finish what they start.
Here are the first innings leads in the 6 matches, and the eventual results.
118 vs Warwicks (draw)
8 vs Sussex (draw)
47 vs Somerset (lost by 4 wickets)
101 vs Worcester (draw)
112 vs Somerset (lost by 4 wickets)
135 vs Durham (?)
While it is unfair to call one player out, it is worth noting that our overseas strike bowler Rana Naved has taken only 10 wickets at 41+ during this six-match streak, having missed two matches and one complete innings through injury.
Steve C ... I say go for it. Zummerzet proved anything is possible and it would do the confidence no end of good if it came off. If you lose, well at least you did so with a smile on your face and gung-ho intentions.
There's only a four point difference between drawing and losing.
I think we bat aggressively until tea and then see what the equation is? One thing that goes against us is the incredibly slow outfield - lots of really good shots came to a rest just inside the boundary..
How serious is it?
Hopefully he'll be fit for the Notts Championship game at Scarborough next week. Also hopefully Rana will be dropped and one of the youngsters who played at Somerset brought in.
A good team should be able to bat out one session for a draw with 7 wickets in hand. Losing both McGrath and Rudolph were big blows, but we have enough batting left in the lineup to see this through for a draw and TEN POINTS.
All is not lost. We have 8 matches left in the season and it can't get any worse. Let's regroup and get set to beat Notts.
But one way or the other, this will be Yorkshire's 18th consecutive match without a win: a team record over 146 years of Championship play.
This is certainly not time for panic: but it is time to re-think strategies, the batting order, and which players have the talent and the bottle to help save the season.
Trotting out the same players who match after match do not get the job done, is to simply accept demotion.
And I'm sorry, we still have not fixed our opening partnership woes. (The last 10 first wicket totals: 49, 19, 67, 35, 26, 15, 9, 0,9, 47) Rudolph should be batting 4th and McGrath should open, or Taylor should be called in. And I'm not sure I would bowl Naved again this season in the CC.
Can I relax now? Good to see our youngsters showing the concentration and maturity that was sadly lacking in our captain....
Twice now, we've been the better team for three quarters of a game - only to throw away a good position. Something needs changing but I'm not sure what. It could be time to look at the leadership and motivation of the team. I just wish Vaughan hadn't retired.
A couple of insightful (and not so insightful) comments and quotes from the media before and after today's drawn match against Durham
"Jacques Rudolph, who has this season developed the trait of being indiscreet against the new ball."
"Yorkshire, for their part, have shown themselves for the last couple of seasons rarely able to last four days; on a number of occasions they have built strong positions for themselves, but were unable to finish the job."
Its going to be a crucial first hour which will probably decide the game.We need to finish them off as quickly as possible, but dont want to be chasing anything over 200. (Anthony McGrath)
"Yorkshire County Cricket Club captain Anthony McGrath predicts a nail-biting climax to LV County Championship clash with Durham"
I found nothing today to celebrate about Yorkshire,or anyone worthy of praise at all.
Starting the day in a promuising position ,the advantage was thrown away by ill-directed bowling ,slipshod fielding,uninspiring leadership and a general lackadasical attitude and lack of efort.
Even offered a target to chase which was far from unreasonable,even generous given the position Durham had escaped from,Yorkshire made absolutely no effort to chase,and frankly looked a side without any commitment or ambition.
Even given that Durham are a strong outfit,with confidence high,Yorkshire having played well for two days,lacked the cofidence or the leadership to maintain that supremacy.
Hard to see where that win is coming from,and without any, division two is a certainty.
I don't think we'll go down, just have to keep the faith for this season and see where it takes us, I like Rudolph and Gale at the top of the order personally and unless they all start performing together as one then results like this are the best we can hope for.
Only way we can hope for a victory is if they all perform, In division 2 we probably might get away with the odd bad session and collapse. I think they will eventually get it together but at the moment they're not doing and thats why we're drawing our games, the defeats against Somerset showed what a class side they are.
5 dropped catches and one missed stumping in their second innings. The out cricket today was very poor and the body language was even worse. Sorry to say this - but we will not win a match all season.
Rather a disappointing day for YCCC supporters, matched by rather dreary July Leeds weather, like a spent firework on 6 November, the stumps were finally pulled from the ground shortly after Gale had been rapped painfully on the knuckles well into the last hour with six wickets standing.
The first blow to Yorkshire's hopes of triumph came early, when it was revealed that Shazhad would be unable to take to the field as he was limping with a hamstring injury. The second was an unbroken partnership between Mustard and Plunkett, aided by a dropped catch (or maybe two) and kindergareten tactics, which stretched to lunchtime and beyond.
In fact, the challenge presented to the Durham batsmen by the strangely subdued and somewhat defensive Yorkshire bowling and field placings, inevitably led one to ponder on the steady progress being made with the new Pavillion. What has happened to the team spirit, so evident in Taunton last week, but yet so absent from this match. Just what is going on? Is it the foundations? The immensity of the task ahead? The ultimate outcome of the project? The contributions of the various personnel? Could it be that a decision has been made to accept mechanistic mediocrity, foregoing challenge, in the hope that survival can be teeth-skin secured and YCCC may live to fight another day in 2010, when perhaps, greater stability will be on offer? Surely, it cannot be that the focus at Headingley is for ever to be on plant rather than play.
Something is wrong in the Danish state when understudies such as Patterson, Rafeeq and Lee, are replaced by crowd-stoppers of international repute such as Naved, Bresnan and Rashid, and yet the overall production quality declines. To be fair Rashid was more than a perfectly adequate replacement for Rafeeq, but Bresnan was no better Patterson and Naved contributed little more to this game than did Lee at Taunton. One is our overseas star, the other a teenager with potential.
There are at least three factors (there may be more) preventing the Yorkshire Team from fulfilling its potential. The first is erroneous team selection. The second is a batting order which ensures that the team is always "on the back foot". The third, is tactical ineptitude of truly staggering proportions. It is not lack of talent, but rather lack of vision, direction and subtlety.
It would be like a man who built a castle upon sand. One hopes that the "Hanging Gardens of Fitzwilliam" are being built to higher specifications.
Ironic of course that this result has seen Yorkshire climb to 5th in the table, just 16 points behind Lancs and 21 behind Notts, two teams which have had three wins each this season. It shows that there is not too much of a difference between high-scoring draws and low-scoring wins.
If my calculations are correct, since returing to Division One in 2006, Yorkshire have won just 9 games out of 56, yet haven't been relegated. Admittedly a good number of games will have been affected by the weather, but as I say, it shows the value of a high-scoring first innings. Yorkshire's 50 batting points last season was the best in the division and was responsible for keeping them up.
I wonder if mathematically a team could win the championship without winning a match? Sixteen 12 point draws = 192 points. Okay, it's not going to happen but it shows what a strange scoring system it is!
Firstly 'sick note' Shahzad did his usual ... some on here have suggested capping him ... I say time to get rid ... Shahzad played his first one day game for Yorks in 2004 & was injured for the next match ... since then he's been unfit for portions of 6 seasons. Yes Ajmal is good when he plays ... but if you had a great car the continually broke down it would be sold by now.
Today we opened with Rashid & Hoggy. Sorry to say this but in the 2nd innings Adil had a stinker ... his line & length were non existant ... if this had been a test match Australia would have massacred him. As has been said we put down a number of chances ... Rudolph was guilty at least twice. This doesn't help the bowlers. Hoggy still doesn't look right (& was again out bowling to Moxon), Bresnan should actually try to make the batsmen play & Naved is a one day bowler. Why we left it until Mustard & Plunket had put on 100 to try Rudolph is a mystery ... as it Mags not bowling himself. Eventually we heard that Mustard & Plunkett had broken the Durham 8th wicket partnership .. previously held by Mustard & Plunkett at Headingley in 2008.
Oh yes ... Bairstow had a poor day behind the stumps ... although some of the byes were rather wide.
Eventually the pair holed out & Durham set us 287 in 55 overs. We started well ... then on 47 Sayers got himself out playing an attacking shot, Mags was soon LBW & with Yorks making Blackwell look a world beater with 6 round the bat (& the other 4 fielders inside to 1 day 'rings') Lyth & Rudolph departed. Thankfully someone has transplanted a defensive brain in Gale & Bairstow gave excelent support .... yes there were close escapes ... but the pair should be praised. Thankfully the clouds gathered & when Davies hit Gale on the hand (hope nothing is broken) the umnpires took them off.
Basically great diaspointment ... especially on Saturday even we thought we'd be celebrating a win on the next day.
btw Naved (10 wickets at 41.20) & Bresnan (10 @ 53.6) are poor ... but Shahzad (17 @ 39.11) isn't great & Patterson (7 @ 58.42) is worse.
Well said dpressed. None of our pace bowlersare "cutting the mustard".
It begs the question, though, of why we continue to select them when we have a trio of gifted spinners.
In my experience it is always better to build on the strengths you possess, rather than crave to emulate the strengths of others.
YCCC's strengths are currently in youth and spin, but the selection policy is wedded to pace. With Shazhad out of it, we have no pace and the best we can produce in that direction is bounce in the form of Kruis.
So for Scarborough next week why not (in batting order):
This may be a strange thing to say - but it seems to me that we play much better away from Headingley. perhaps it's the pitch, or perhaps it's the general attitude among the crowd, but the players seem genuinely intimidated when they play in Leeds. Certainly they seemd to be having much more fun - with much better spirit when they played at Worcester. Perhaps the move to Scarborough might make a difference....
i think we are being overly harsh on the team to some extent.
Durham are champions, towards the top this season and playing with confidence and team spirit. To be in the position we were in at the end of day 3 was a great effort on our part but we do not have a divine right to expect Durham to lie down and roll over for us and I would expect their batsmen to battle hard on the 4th day - thats why they are where they are in the league.
Yes its disappointing we did not quite finish it off and perhaps the main criticism is not taking our catches but i don't think we should say the team is demoralised and at a lower ebb as surely we had the best of a draw, got more points than Durham and if we can now get one of the bowlers delivering at Scarborough then we should progress further.
Yes, the batting order still feels wrong, the captaincy is weak and the coach seems lacking in ability to pick the team up further. But we knew all this before this game and nothing was done differently so at least the players themselves gave an overall better performance.
I must admit I find it quite peculiar that despite not winning a game we are not in the relegation mire - however we are playing more games than the others at the moment so a freak monsoon for when we are not playing would not be a bad thing
What a stunning lack of ambition, the asking rate was only a smidge over 5 an over. No wonder crowds are so small for 4 day games. Do I really want to use up my precious annual leave later this year to watch the games at Hove and Basingstoke ? No is the short answer.
I think in fairness the Yorkshire batsmen set off in quite positive fashion. We were scoring at roughly 4/5 an over for the first 7 or 8 overs. I think we would have given it a good chase even once we lost Rudolph - the problem cam when lost Mags for a duck. With our two most experienced batsmen gone, and Blackwell seemingly impossible to score off, I guess it made sense to settle for the draw. You have to allow for our hugely inexperienced batting line up - with Gale/Lyth and Bairstow in the middle - we could easily have been six down with 15 overs to go and hanging on for grim life. I wonder if Benkenstein was tempted to declare at lunch - would have made a better contest of it and might have persuaded us to chase a little longer...
Go to Hove. It's a lovely ground and the perfect end to a summer of cricket. You can celebrate the fact that we avoided relegation...
Don't let anyone kid themselves,apart from Rudy playing a few shots early on Yorkshire were never remotely interested in chasing yesterday.
They were completely demoralised,and content to come away with a draw,when a bit of boldness might have produced victory.
The sight of Blackwell,nothing more than a 'roller'as opposed to a genuine spinner with a very ordinary record bowling with five men round the bat was quite unbelievable.
He was made to look like some Shane Warne bowlalike,the tentative way we prodded forward as if he was delivering hand grenades,pathetic and inexcusable.
But there you are ,the daft points system already referred to in this thread means you can pick up 12 points for a draw,and potentially only 14 for a win,which is why a side with NO wins half way through the season,can find themselves not at the bottom of the league,but in a comfortable mid -table position.
Absolutely ridiculous when avoiding defeat is more important than winning.
It's destroying county cricket as a spectacle and making a mockery of the game.
Perhaps thats what the powers be actually want,kill off county cricket completely and let's get on with 20/20,
SHAMEFUL!!!!!!
A lovely piece of tidying up Steve ... well done !
I go to Hove and the Rose Bowl whenever we play there and I see how fast players like Gale, Rana and Rashid can score. That's what I found so frustrating. There was no attempt to send in a couple of big hitters up top and see if they can rattle Harmison and Plunkett, who are always pretty fragile in the confidence department. A bit of momentum gets going our way and we could have pulled off a shock. We could have saved Sayers for shoring up duty if the attack failed.
Just lying there and accepting a dull finale isn't what sport is about in my book.
I thought the rate beyond us and a draw was the right thing to aim for at that point. The ''horse bolted'' during the morning session and heads dropped. Imagine how low they would be today, both in the dressing room and on here had we made a botched effort to win and ended up losing.
As I thought I said it was Durham who got it wrong ... expecting Yorkshire to score 287 in 55 overs at over 5 an over when the other 3 innings had been under 3 an over. As others said Durham would have been better declaring earlier.
As for Blackwell ... it's further amunition to my contention that Yorks simply cant play spin. If we'd had 6 round the bat (with the keeper) when Rashid was bowling Mustard would have probably damaged one of them before they spread out to cut down the runs
Before we move on to more fertile pastures elsewhere..
I was amazed at how slow the outfield was. It would have been very difficult to score at five an over when very good shots were pulling up in the outfield - well short of the boundary. Is this now a permanent feature of cricket at Headingley since we relaid the outfield? Does anyone know what affects it - the grass looked closely cropped to me - and yet still the ball held up.
The second point is about Blackwell. He's not as bad as we're all imagining. He has played for England remember. Also, he's playing in a winning side, has a supportiv captain, and is FULL of confidence. Just imagine how good Rashid could be if he was blessed with those three conditions...
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