Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Yorkshire batter Noah Kelly, who scored two half-centuries in the recent second-team Championship draw against Hampshire.
By Noah Kelly.
I’m fully in favour of the Second XI Championship being played through to a final at the end of the summer. I think that’s a really positive step for players at this level. To be playing as many big games as possible can only be a good thing.
However, having played a good portion of the season now, one thing I would say is that I would prefer to see the competition extended throughout the summer rather than it just being five group matches during the second half.
The games have felt like they’ve been played to a similar intensity as the friendlies we had at the start of the year. My only thing would be, ‘Can more of the games we play count towards the Championship?’
I feel like you’re going to find out who the better teams are when you play throughout the whole season.
We’ve played some really good, tight games, both in the friendlies and the Championship.
We had some really good wins at the start of the year – Warwickshire away and we beat Lancs twice. It was just unfortunate that we didn’t quite get rewarded for that with some points because they were all in friendlies.
We have so far won one, lost one and drawn one in our three games, with the last two being played in September.
Our win came against Northamptonshire at Weetwood after we’d lost our first game against Derbyshire.
That was one we should have won, on reflection, and it stings in the grand scheme of the league. When it’s a short and sharp competition, you have to take all your opportunities. But, overall, we’ve played some very good cricket.
It was nice to get some runs in our most recent game, a high-scoring draw against Hampshire at Weetwood the week before last. I got 85 and 58 batting at three.
Obviously, it was disappointing not to go on and get a big hundred in the first innings. But to get 140 runs in the game, you can’t be too unhappy with that.
I made some technical changes through the middle of the season, and that coincided with me dropping down to three after opening the batting early on.
I feel like I’ve scored a few more runs at three than I did opening.
Whether that’s just because I’m just into the season now or whatever, I’m not really sure. But I’m feeling good about my game at the moment. Once you get into some decent form as a batter, you have to make sure you grab the momentum and keep going – keep that hunger.
In that first innings against Hampshire, I put on 225 for the second wicket with Will Bennison, who made 106.
You’ll all know that Will has recently signed his maiden professional contract with the club, and I’m delighted for him.
Myself and Will have always enjoyed batting together. We’ve played with each other for a good number of years, and we have a good time out there in the middle.
I’d say we’re both pretty calm at the crease.
I mean, he’s mature beyond his age is Will. He’s got that air of confidence and composure that someone at 18 shouldn’t really have. He’s a marvellous player.
Will’s leg-spin is developing nicely, alongside his batting.
He’s been a frontline spinner in the Under 18s, especially in the white-ball stuff.
I think, as a young leg-spinner, he’s just trying to look for some control with the red ball, which is so tough. Not many leggies around the world play in red-ball cricket, so it’s been good for him to get some bowling done in the twos.
Will’s definitely getting better and better with that side of things, which is very promising.
With the One-Day Cup on at the moment, there are no second-ream games taking place at the moment. So it’s basically about getting some good training done and getting my games in with Driffield in the YPL North on a Saturday.
I’m doing everything I can to be ready should I get the call from Mags.
I spoke a bit about England in the my last blog having been one of the 12th men for the Headingley Test against India. And, to be honest, I didn’t expect the series to finish like that on Monday morning at the Oval. I thought we’d knock those runs off quite comfortably.
But credit to India, they kept going.
Mohammed Siraj was outstanding, wasn’t he. He’s someone who has grown on me this series. I suspect he’s one of those characters who when you play against him, you think, ‘God, he’s a bit over the top’. But when he’s on your side, you think he’s an absolute legend.
Also, you have to credit the bravery of Chris Woakes for going out to bat at the end. He was probably one bumper away from tearing his shoulder off had he faced and it had hit him. It was phenomenal, really.
All in all, 2-2 probably seems a fair outcome from that series.
I just want to finish by saying how I was chuffed to bits for Ben Cliff in taking his five-fer against Warwickshire at Scarborough in that 50-over win last Tuesday.
It’s never nice to play one game at the start of the year and feel like you’re getting into it and then have to pull out after four overs because of injury (side).
But he’s been so professional in coming back from that, and he had a bit of a back issue on top of it as well. Every time I’ve been in the gym, he’s been there with the strength and conditioning coach and physio, getting through his rehab.
He bowled nicely at Sheffield before in a twos game and didn’t get his rewards but then got five wickets against Hampshire in the Championship draw. That showed Mags that he was ready.
That’s exactly what you want from your frontline seamer, taking wickets and breaking the game open like he did. He looks in full flow and is back to his best, if not better than he was before.
I think he came back from Australia in the winter having put on an extra yard of pace.
He had been used to bowling with the Kookaburra ball for six months on some pretty flat wickets in Melbourne. So you have to be able to drive some things out the surface.
Having been through the rehab he has been, he looks even stronger now than he did coming back from Melbourne. So I hope in hindsight that he realises he’s turned it into a bit of a positive.
‘I’m going to be better for this in the long-run’ type of thing.
