County Championship Day 3

Division One:

Yorkshire beat Lancashire by 10 wickets
Middlesex 311-7 v Somerset 443-9d
Warwickshire 254 & 75-2 v Hampshire 515

Division Two:

Worcestershire 312 & 124-4 v Sussex 579-8d
Notts 229 & 313-6 v Derbyshire 363
Northants 338 & 44-1 v Durham 166 & 376


Yorkshire’s Roses victory came with the minimum of fuss. On day three they clinically swept away Lancashire’s last six wickets for 68, then knocked off the required 60 for a 10-wicket win. “From start to finish we dominated” was the succinct and entirely accurate assessment of Andrew Gale, their coach. Whisper it, but this performance, which takes Yorkshire within two points of the leaders, Essex, was reminiscent of those seen when they won twin titles under Gale’s captaincy.

On a pitch full of juice – “one of the best I’ve seen at Headingley,” Gale said, before lamenting that it would probably be rated “average” under the England and Wales Cricket Board’s grading system – they had bowled relentlessly throughout, did not shell a chance (a welcome change from recent games) and in Adam Lyth’s battling century, achieved the game’s only score of more than 50. “If I could show the academy a video of how to bat at Headingley, that would be it,” Gale said of Lyth.

The bowling on the third morning was almost as excellent as it had been on the first, when they dismissed Lancashire for 123. “As good as you’ll see in county cricket,” Gale added with a grin.

Ryan Sidebottom, now 39 and who every Yorkshireman should be begging not to retire, had Dane Vilas caught at slip, then Ben Coad had Shiv Chanderpaul edging behind, all before Lancashire had a lead. Coad had dismissed their prize scalps, Haseeb Hameed and Chanderpaul, twice each and ended with eight wickets in the match.

Ryan McLaren and Jordan Clark ensured Yorkshire would bat again, putting on 48, before Tim Bresnan made his first major contribution. He took three wickets in 16 balls and Sidebottom got rid of Tom Bailey, all caught by the wicketkeeper or cordon (like 22 of the match’s 30 wickets), to ensure the target remained so low that sweat would not be broken.

Indeed it was not. With 21 runs required for victory off they went for lunch, perhaps because there was a do being thrown for former Yorkshire players – having not given them an inch all match they generously invited a few Lancastrians, too.

What remained was a formality as Lyth and Alex Lees milked Lancashire’s spinners – who were bowling to avoid the loss of points because of their poor over-rate – with any semblance of intensity gone; even Hameed served up three overs. Eventually, Lees grew bored and carted Steven Croft wide of mid-on to put Lancashire out of their misery.

They had been playing catch-up since choosing to toss, then bat. On a pitch that would have suited him down to the ground, Glen Chapple, the coach, was adamant that it was the performance, not the captain’s call, that cost them. “The quality of our bowling did not match theirs. We have to take that on the chin,” he said.


Chapple said the return from injury of Jimmy Anderson, who was bowling at about 50% before play, is coming on very well and added that he is “a fast healer”, though not fast enough to face Middlesex at Southport on Friday, alas.