11:00am Wednesday 8th September 2010
YORKSHIRE’S best bowling display in four-day cricket for more than 30 years – followed by a magnificent century from captain Andrew Gale has breathed new life into their title challenge.
The Tykes dismissed Nottinghamshire for only 59 runs on day one at Trent Bridge, before Gale’s brilliance with the bat against the current leaders.
“This has been my best day as captain,” said Gale at the close, after leading Yorkshire to a first-innings lead of 201 runs.
“It is only day one of this match, so we cannot get too far ahead of ourselves.
“The bowling display was brilliant though. They barely bowled a bad ball between them, and that is the best allround performance from an attack that I have seen since I started playing for the county.”
Few can argue with his opinion. The attack demolished their opponents, to make sure Nottinghamshire’s total was the lowest made against the county in this form of cricket since Warwickshire posted 35 in 1979.
On a pitch which may yet be investigated by the ECB, Ajmal Shahzad and Oliver Hannon-Dalby were the pick of the bowlers, with four wickets apiece. Moin Ashraf deserves credit for a wicketladen debut.
Making his first championship appearance, the 18-yearold fast bowler finished with 2-11.
It took Ashraf and his colleagues 33 overs to bowl them out, with five batsmen getting ducks and only two reaching double-figures.
Despite rare failures from openers Jacques Rudolph, who made ten, and Adam Lyth, who made 19, Gale attacked from the off.
Jonathan Bairstow provided him with the best support, making 36, but as other wickets were falling at regular intervals, Gale remained unmoved.
It meant that by the end of play he was only two runs short of equalling his previous first-class best, 149, and with a first-innings lead of more than 200 it is now Yorkshire’s match to lose.
“I am not bothered about any personal achievements from this match,” added Gale.
“I wanted to play this match like a one-day innings when I got to the crease because I thought that was the best tactic on this pitch.
“We are on top at the moment, but who knows what will happen over the next few days.”
Yorkshire have already picked up five bonus points – meaning that they will close to within at least seven points of Notts if they can turn their excellent current position into a victory.
Nottinghamshire v Yorkshire
At Trent Bridge.
Nottinghamshire First Innings
A D Hales c A U Rashid b Shahzad 3
P J Franks c Bairstow b Shahzad 0
M A Wagh c Rudolph b Shahzad 22
A C Voges b Ashraf 8
S R Patel c Brophy b Ashraf 0
A D Brown lbw b Hannon-Dalby 16
C M Read lbw b Hannon-Dalby 0
S J Mullaney lbw b Hannon-Dalby 0
A R Adams c Lyth b Shahzad 3
L J Fletcher not out 6
D J Pattinson c Brophy b H-Dalby 0
Extras (lb1 pens 0) 1
Total (33.2 overs) 59
Fall: 1-1 2-4 3-18 4-18 5-41 6-47 7-47 8-49
9-52
Bowling: Shahzad 11-4-21-4. Patterson 7-
2-8-0. Ashraf 6-4-11-2. Hannon-Dalby 9.2-
4-18-4.
Yorkshire First Innings Close
A Lyth c Voges b Adams 19
J A Rudolph c A D Brown b Adams 10
A McGrath c Adams b Franks 10
A W Gale not out 147
J M Bairstow lbw b Adams 36
G L Brophy b Adams 5
A U Rashid c Fletcher b S R Patel 11
A Shahzad c Read b Franks 7
S A Patterson c Read b Franks 0
O J Hannon-Dalby not out 0
Extras (lb8 w1 nb6 pens 0) 15
Total 8 wkts (60 overs) 260
Fall: 1-30 2-31 3-60 4-171 5-195 6-228 7-
251 8-251
To Bat: Moin Ashraf, R M Pyrah.
Bonus Pts: Nottinghamshire 0 Yorkshire 3
Bowling: Fletcher 8-0-39-0. Pattinson 10-2-
58-0. Adams 19-2-82-4. Franks 14-3-54-3.
S R Patel 9-1-19-1.
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