we may be safe but there are still points to be gained from this game and they could easily make a difference to our final position.
Hampshire started this game 2 points above us but have 3 wins so if we draw this game then we need to get 3 more bonus points than them to overtake them.
That means we need to score 400 (and get 5 batting points) and Hampshire don't get 3 bowling points.
We also want to finish above Lancashire (2 points behind at the start) but I suspect they are on their way to max points (22) v Warks. Therefore to stay above Lancs we have to win this game and get 21 points (so we need to score 350+ and win).
A Lancs win v Warks may be good for another reason as Warks started on 171 points (15 ahead of us) and they made a pigs ear of their batting to get no bonus points. If they only get 3 bowling points (the maximum) v Lancs and lose (highly likely looking at scoreboard at moment) then they will go up to 174 (at best) and a Yorks win v Hampshire with us scoring 19 points will see us overtake them as well.
I would love to find a way for us to also overtake Notts but this would mean they had to lose to Sussex and that looks most unlikely. Anyway not sure 3rd place for us would be a true reflection on our season!
So a win v Hants with 21 or 22 points and a Lancs win v Warwickshire will see us finish in 4th.
Who said we could all breath a sigh of relief at avoiding the drop?
it was the left-handed-ness I was thinking of (as a left hander but right hand batter myself) but the fact none have played for england is also true - however I suspect this must have happened more recently in the past
With McGrath, I was just thinking about a thing I used to do as an ageing captain with a talented but under-confident young side. But minor league club cricket is a very different matter. I have these delusions of grandeur occasionally...
At the risk of reopening yesterday's wounds - we're facing Griffiths and Mascherenas - surely our opening bat should be able score at more than 5 runs an hour....?
lets not forget Hampshire may also be trying to win this game or also limit our batting bonus points so that they finish above us.
I hope Joe grinds his way to a ton and then adopts 1 day mode and takes some risks to accelerate but with Wainers now out and a new man in it may be quite attritional for a while
13 runs off 8 overs since the wicket seems a bit unadventurous. Shouldn't the orders be: bat sensibly for the first hour and then try to dominate the bowling?
It's too bad Joe Sayers didn't get his century: it would have put an exclamation point
on a wonderful confidence-boosting season where he quite literally saved his career.
I pity those loyal fans who have gone to watch today - survival is assured, Sayers missed out on a century and we have now had our usual top of the order collapse in the middle order with the run rating slowing down all the time.
Gale has suffered from the same fate as the football manager who gets manager of the month and then promptly loses the next game.
Our hopes of overtaking Hampshire in the table now look forlorn if we don't get 400 for loss of no more wickets.
After the hopes of yesterday, today appears to be just another chapter of the same in our season
Run rate under 3 an over; no apparent effort to dominate; the customary collapse. There goes the middle order again without developing anything resembling a sense of purpose.
To his credit, McGrath did seem to be trying to get things going, but he's been in poor touch for a long time now.
cometh the tyro...
Enter JB - four fours in a run a ball score fest!
Let's hope he can bring a bit of a spark to our innings. I'm still hoping this could be a decent game - why not see what Bairtsow can do and then declare!
One problem with promoting Wainwright is that JB has run out of partners.
I wonder if Deon will try and block it out - or whether he'll simply try and whallop it over the football stand.
Now we've got a good game!
It's not about right-handedness or innocence, but sublime talent. In a couple of years' time no one will have any idea why he was batting at number seven. Or why Alex appeared to think at start of play that he might be left out of the line-up.
Another poor effort from the middle order, almost as though they had not thought out a strategy for the day. We should have been aiming to score at 3/4 an over and a lead of 150-200 by close of play. Of course, it may not have worked, but we had nothing to lose and plenty to gain by being positive. It will be interesting to see how the Hampshire batsmen cope with the remaining overs of play today.
I believe that this should be the last CC match for Moxon as coach and last with McGrath as captain.
The Hants batsmen don't seem to have any more idea of what they're supposed to be doing than we had. Perhaps both teams are now bored and simply can't wait for the season to finish. If Hants just bat all day tomorrow I will be very angry indeed.
Not only have we thrown away all chances of winning with such negativity this morning, but we have committed our long suffering supporters to a final day of pointless cricket tomororow, with many of them probably preferring to go to a football match or even an afteroon's shopping with their spouses!
Ah well, after the giddy heights of Hove and securing our place in Division One it's back to reality. A scoring rate Chris Tavare would be proud of and a middle order batting collapse.
Anybody who thought our problems were all solved by avoiding relegation needs to have a long lie down in a darkened room. This team needs a major overhaul in the off season or it will almost certainly be a case of same again next time around.
I notice we've been off for bad light for about half an hour. As I post, they're still playing at Manchester and Derby and have just come off at Trent Bridge. Is this another case of over fastidious umpiring?
The 20 or so overs lost on Wednesday plus whatever we lose today will contribute to a 'dead' Saturday, just as much as the possible tactical shortcomings of Messrs Moxon and McGrath.
Just checked out the webcam - the covers are on and the ground is deserted so clearly the day has ended. But the pitch is bathed in sunshine with a blue sky in the distance.
This match - thus far - has epitomised everything that is wrong in our game.
Another day, another collapse. 209-1 becomes 348 all out. And to compound things we threw away a bonus point by two runs (thanks, Deon!)
Staying in the first division by the skin-of-our-teeth should not detract from the fact that this team is leaking oil from all cylinders. What with key players leaving, no overseas signing, the potential loss of Jacques Rudolph due to the re-jigging of the Kolpack rules, and obvious issues with captaincy and with our director of cricket operations, Yorkshire face a tumultuous off season.
Methinks the White Rose forum is going to be busy place over the next few months.
What a dreadful advert for championship cricket today. dominic cork - an embarrassment. short ball after short ball. must have aimed at the stumps 6 times in about 9 or 10 overs. if thats cricket then we might as well jack it in. the umpires were pathetic, not having a word with him at all. cannot believe sayers fell for the 5 card trick either. bairstow superb with big deon at the end and brought some nice entertainment to a game that was as grey as the sky over ls6.
some people may call cork a "character" and fair play to him still going at 38, but he's gone down in my estimation the last few days.
....for CC. Negative bowling - there was one ball per over within reach of the batsmen, the rest were either 2 ft wide of off-stump or 6 ft over their heads. No warnings about persistant short pitched bowling by the umpires and then they go off for bad light when the light was perfectly playable. Is it any wonder CC crowds are on the decline when Corkie is allowed to get away with 4 bouncers per over all day long with no warnings. It is no wonder we scored slowly as we could not reach 95% of the balls, and when we did, we played false shots and got ourselves out. There appears to be very little chance of a result now as no doubt the umpires will not allow either side to take the field due to percieved bad light.
how could mascharenas just accept that from cork!? does he not want to win the game?, or is he happy to let his bowler bowl like that and not give a flying you know what?
the umpiring has been spineless. from the light farce on wednesday to letting cork do whatever he wanted.
bres got some hammer from the supporters at old trafford in the champo game this year but i'd say per over there were only 2 maybe 3 shortballs.
if you had been someone from another country today at headingley that had never seen cricket before ever, you would never comeback
During a few strange minutes this morning my adult life was played out before my eyes. I'm stop - start driving along Otley Rd, past both Unis and up to the ground. The students are back and, this morning, out in force, as I look into the mid distance I see myself but 25 years younger and part of that crowd. The next few miles are spent in reflection about student life in the mid 80s compared to now. Next I'm waiting for a friend outside the Hutton Gates and I see myself, but 25 year on, I'm now in my late 60's, drifting into the crowd, looking like virtually all of todays crowd.
The game - it's impossible not to critise Sayers. He showed no intent, no drive to take the game forward. It was fairly desperate stuff. I agree with Hosom and Stu about Cork, and I'm no Cork apologist, but I think part of his general mucking about, was in response to Joes scoring rate.
Mags and Lyth post lunch tried to move things along, and I felt sorry for Mags that he drilled one to cover, he, dispite his obvious short comings as captain, deserved a good finish to the season. Lyth appeared to misjudge one that bounced more than any other and gloved to first slip.
Brophy and Shazhad were out edging cross batted slashes to the keeper.
This is the first time I've seen Jonny Bairstow make runs. He looked good, actually he looked very good. Several well timed flicks to leg and a couple of hard hit cover boundaries the highlight. He looks to have the potential to become of the highest order.
Deon Kruis - in the pre game thread I said he didn't deserve a 'sentimental' pick, I'll retract that. 100% effort, his ususal runs and a whole hearted over when he bowled. Pity he missed the batting point.
Shazhad - definately has put on a yard of pace during the season, hope he returns. Hoggy looked out of sorts and oddly distracted, but I hope this isn't his final game.
Cleasby sat in front of me in the top of the football stand, he appeared to have made full use of the end of season sale in the club shop. I ignored him.
Bad light - others will post more, bottom line it was a laughably bad decision. They even went off mid over, did anyone see the dramatic deteriation as Shazhad started his run up for the 4th ball of the over? Thats entertainment.
Before the start we had the members meeting with Regan .. the main point of interests were
1) Giles Clark of the ECB was in the ground on Wednesday & agreed that we should have started around 11:00 ... hopefully the umpires we be talked to
2) Fogarty will be preparing the pitches for Weetwood
3) No news on the players (Hoggy, Shahz & Lee).... but they are concentrating on trying to keep Shahzad
As has been said Joe slowly but after Wainwright got out we found out why ..... the middle order tried to get on with it & all got out to poor shots .... people on this forum appear to think that or batsmen can score 4-5 an over without getting out ... well yesterday showed this is as a complete falicy. As has been said there was some rather negative tactics with Cork bowling short ball after short ball .... the light was also 'variable' ... often being worse than Wednesday ... yet the umpires appeared totally unconcerned. Deon hit out at the end .... shame he couldn't get us to the 4th point.
The light improved before Hants started batting ..... Shahzad appeared to have put on a yard of pace ... as the light started to decline it was obvious that Cowley wasn't happy (Bodenham was obviously the junior) ... & it wasn't a suprise when it was decided to go off ..... I left at this point .... and wont be back today .... so expect a spectacular last day
This message has been edited by dpressed on Sep 26, 2009 8:17 AM
