By Graham Hardcastle, Paul Dyson
Yorkshire fans will get a glimpse of the next generation of talent in tomorrow’s Royal London one-day Cup clash with Durham at Emerald Headingley.
The Vikings are out of contention for the knockout stages with one North Group game to play (11am) against a Durham side still in the hunt.
England fast bowler Mark Wood will play, but Andrew Gale is planning to delve into the second team and give some of the club’s youngsters a chance to shine.
Yorkshire were beaten by Worcestershire at New Road yesterday to end their chances of progression, a 150-run defeat as they failed to chase 294.
It follows five successive years of List A knockout cricket.
Coach Gale said: “I’m going to play some kids.
“The lads in the second team deserve a chance. They’ve done well over the last few weeks and are chomping at the bit.
“Because we’ve had a chance of qualification, we haven’t managed to get them into the team.
“It’s exciting that we’ll see some fresh faces, and hopefully a few of them can put pressure on lads for their places.”
A win for Durham and former White Rose batsman Alex Lees would elevate them into the top three places required for progression. They have won four of seven games to Yorkshire’s two.
At Worcester, Gale described his Vikings as “poor and below average” as they allowed Worcester to recover from 62-4 batting first to 293-7. Yorkshire then slipped from 46-0 to 143 all out in reply.
George Rhodes hit 106 and Ben Cox 87 to lead their recovery.
Gale continued: “I thought we did really well up until about 25 overs into the game. You have to give Worcester some credit. I thought they did really well – Cox and Rhodes.
“But it just about sums our tournament up. We couldn’t do the good things for long enough, and second half we were below par. As soon as we lost a couple of wickets, we were never in the game.
“I’m as frustrated as the lads. They’re down.
“I just don’t think we did what we were doing well for long enough.
“Worcester showed us how to bowl in the second half.
“If you bowl straight with the odd slower ball at Worcester, it’s hard to score. If you look at the wagon wheels, I can’t remember the seamers getting hit down the ground much. Our seamers have been scored off square of the wicket.
“We have to keep bowling straight and build pressure. Ultimately that will create another wicket or two, and you have them 100-6 and it’s a different game.
“We did some really good stuff with the ball, as we have done throughout the tournament. But it’s about bringing a full performance together.
“Apart from the first game against Leicester, we haven’t managed to do that.
“To win white ball games, whether it’s one-dayers or Twenty20s, you need to bring a full performance together, and we haven’t managed to do that.”
Yorkshire were always up against it as soon as Worcester topped 250 on a used pitch which proved sluggish.
Gale said: “You say to the players, ‘That’s par and it’s chasable’. But if we’re being honest, they shouldn’t have got 250 from the position we had them in.
“Anything over 250 was always going to be a tough chase, and we lost early wickets and momentum.
“I thought we were soft (with the bat), mentally, technically, whatever you want to call it.”
Former Yorkshire batsman Lees has scored 310 runs in six RL50 innings for Durham, including one century.
Team news
13-man squad to face Durham Lions
Ben Birkhead WK
Tim Bresnan
Harry Brook
Tom Kohler-Cadmore Captain
Karl Carver
Will Fraine
Jack Leaning
Tom Loten
Mathew Pillans
Josh Poysden
Matt Taylor
Jordan Thompson
Jared Warner
Second XI v Durham @ Emirates Riverside – Tues 7-9 May
Ben Birkhead
Tim Bresnan
Ben Coad
Matthew Fisher
Will Fraine
Jack Leaning
Tom Loten
Josh Poysden
Josh Shaw
Jack Shutt
Jordan Thompson
Matthew Waite
Graham Harcastle says…
Yorkshire’s failure to advance from the North Group in the RL50 for the first time in six years is owed to not being able to win those key moments.
They should have won games against Lancashire and Derbyshire at Emerald Headingley instead of coming away with a one-run loss and a tie. The Warwickshire tie at Edgbaston, in truth, was a game the Bears had much the better of.
Yorkshire have batted better than they have bowled this tournament, and Saturday’s capitulation against Worcestershire – they lost all 10 wickets for just less than 100 and were bowled out for 143 chasing 294 – was somewhat of an aberration.
In general, they have not been able to build enough pressure with the ball.
Now, with tomorrow’s game a dead rubber for the hosts, the youngsters and fringe players can pit their wits against a Durham side who need to win to advance. England fast bowler Mark Wood will be a particular challenge for them.
It should be an interesting day.
Match Statistics
- The 674 runs which the two sides scored in their last List A match at Headingley, in 2017, was an aggregate record for List A cricket on the ground. It lasted for four days.
- Jonny Bairstow’s 174, made in the 2017 game, is Yorkshire’s third-highest individual innings in all List A cricket and is 60 runs higher than Durham’s best at Headingley – 114 by Wayne Larkins in 1993.
- The only bowler to take five wickets in an innings in any List A match between these two counties is Brian Lander. He took five for 15 at Harrogate in 1973 in the Gillette Cup when Durham was a Minor County. It won the match and was the first such team to defeat a first-class county.
Milestones
Potential batting milestones in Yorkshire v Durham on 6th May 2019
- RD Pringle needs 8 runs to reach 500 runs in List A matches
- AZ Lees needs 18 runs to reach 1500 runs in List A matches
- AU Rashid needs 58 runs to reach 500 runs in List A matches at Leeds
*AZ Lees needs 67 runs to reach 500 runs in List A matches at Leeds
- BA Stokes needs 72 runs to reach 4000 runs in List A matches
- DJM Short needs 110 runs to reach 1000 runs in List A matches
- JA Tattersall needs 125 runs to reach 500 runs in List A matches
- TT Bresnan needs 132 runs to reach 1000 runs in List A matches at Leeds
- BA Raine needs 140 runs to reach 500 runs in List A matches
- GS Ballance needs 140 runs to reach 4500 runs in List A matches
- T Kohler-Cadmore needs 142 runs to reach 500 runs in List A matches at Leeds
Royal London One-Day Cup standings
Royal London One-Day Cup competition statistics
Yorkshire’s Royal London One-Day Cup statistics
The opposition
Durham
- Director of Cricket: Marcus North, Head Coach: James Franklin
- Captain: TBC
- 2018: CC 8th in Div 2, RL50 9th in North, T20 QF
Durham at least begin the post Paul Collingwood era on an even keel following last year’s nightmare of having to deal with points deductions in all three competitions.
They were at least able to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Vitality Blast, but made little impression on the Championship and 50-over cricket.
