A well-deserved victory....delighted for the team and the fans who backed them.



Captain and coach have taken some undeserved criticism from some quarters this season. Those fans not prepared to back the team should stick to local league cricket...you know who you are.

We've won ONE game - the problems haven't suddenly gone away overnight.
For one of the first times this season we picked two spinners, and managed to accomodate both Lyth and Bairstow. Some of us have been saying all along that we have good players who for some reason haven't been producing winning performances as a team. We were lucky to get bowled out today because we would never have had the courage to declare or set any sort of target.
I'm afraid our leadership problems remain unresolved - but we did prove today just how good a collection of players - young and experienced - we have if everyone can be channelled and harnessed effectively. Although wainwright may grab the headlines - this was a team performance. Apart from the hapless Rafiq - who will return stronger - every single player contibuted in some way. let's not forget Gale, Joe, Mags, Lyth, Shahzad and Rudi....
I hope the players enjoy their evening and maintain this momentum against Hants at the weekend....

Steve is correct ... we weren't rubbish before & aren't now world beaters .... btw can I add Bairstow to Rashid in not contributing .... playing an extra batsman did work as Lyth (who came in) DID contribute

Steve is right. There should have been at least a touch of confidence and momentum after the Hants. win, but that dissipated very quickly and we were soon back to the usual fear and caution. And lots of little tricks are still being missed (was it good man management not to bowl Rafiq at all in the second innings?).
Let's hope next week sees a wholehearted effort to win the Hampshire game and finish fourth or fifth, rather than another crab-like crawl towards "safety".
I hope the team are celebrating wildly right now and that it can help them throw off some of the negativity of the last couple of months.

Rafiq didn't bowl that badly for a two or three over spell on Friday morning at Hove, and was very unlucky not to get Hamilton Brown (who was in the seventies at the time) out.

He almost pulled the first ball of an over onto his own stumps; was fortunate to survive a good lbw shout on the second, and would have had him caught at deepish mid on had McGrath been a few yards further back, where he eventually ended up.

All the credit to our batsmen for digging in and fighting, but in all truth we would never have been in a position to win the game had Sussex not bowled us out.

Despite all the euphoria, can we drop the "Mags and" bit? The fact is, we won today because we found the only team this side of oblivion who can bottle it more than us.

The only contribution from the captain was to be in the right place at the right time. Granted, I haven't seen the team play all season, but no amount of "Mags is great"-ing will convince me that an immensely talented team should do so badly unless completely demoralised by an inept leader.

We won. We've probably ensured top-division status for next year. This doesn't alter the fact that we've had a disaster of a season, like every season since 2001, and will have another next year unless things change.

that just about sums it up for me. the above comment, he has not seen them play all season. but he will have a whinge anyway. i have a theory the further away and less you see, the more you whinge. just rejoice in the good times. with our youngsters i think the good times are returning. well done mags and the lads you all played your part.

My theory is that the further you are away and the less cricket you see, the more you think Chris Taylor is the answer.

The world according to Dewsburian:

I live in Cyprus...I rarely seen any live matches...I think we should have played Chris Taylor...therefore I am an idiot?

I have seen us play virtually every championship day at home a couple of away games & yet I'm one of the whingers. The problem is simple. Except for Durham, we should be as good or better than most counties ,,, we even bossed Durham for 3 days at Headingley ... yet until this game we looked like one of the favourites for relegation. The problem is simple ... we play well for 3 or even 3 1/2 days out of 4 but 'go to sleep' for 1 to 3 sessions. This means we've spent most of this season playing 'catch up'. Once a team is in 'surival mode' its hard to go onto the attack. As has already been said if we hadn't collapsed today the game would have been a draw.

So how do we get out of this rut ... firstly we need a new captain ... 2 reasons ... 1 its robbed us of one of our better batsmen (Mags) & 2 McGrath uses the 'fag packet' method ... 'a' bowls for 'x' overs then is replaced by 'c' etc ... we also need a 4 day overseas proffessional ... in the 1 dayers Rana did well ... but in the championship he was only effective when the opposition were chasing a total (effectively a 1 day game)

Brilliant win today, truly remarkable showing from Hoggard and Wainwright.

But the fact remains had our batsmen performed better the game would have dwindled to a draw. I'm not really sure what tactical credit Mags should get for the win. According to observers he has appeared to be lacking as a captain for much of the season. Glossing over the gaping cracks in this team would seem to be misguided.

The vast majority of this season has been miserable for Yorkshire, as shown by the comments on this forum. Last year we limped to safety, we appear to have remained at exactly the same level 12 months later.

Who knows how vital todays win will prove for the fortunes of the club in the coming years? But if we stand pat during the Winter again and just hope we're better next season we may not be quite so fortunate.

Next year we are likely to be without Rashid and Bresnan for longer than we were this year. There are some drastic challenges ahead for the management.

For the rest of the season us fans can sit back and enjoy the warm glow of avoiding relegation.

But I hope the management of this club do not. They have work to do.