Jack Brooks helped turn Yorkshire’s season-ending Specsavers County Championship match against Worcestershire on its head with a blistering 82 late on day two and then admitted he was getting a touch grumpy at the prospect of ending his final week with the county on a losing note.
Brooks smashed seven fours in his last 12 balls to cap a remarkable second evening at New Road as Yorkshire, replying to 340, recovered from 232-8 to close the day on 417-9, a lead of 77.
The departing seamer shared a record-breaking ninth-wicket partnership of 171 with centurion Gary Ballance, who will begin day three on 189.
The pair scored the lion’s share of 203 runs in the evening session as the hosts let slip a position of significant strength.
Yorkshire started the evening at 214-7, and Brooks, who had started the day by completing figures of 6-94 in Worcester’s first innings, said: “There was a lot of hard work to be done (at tea).
“Gary was in and playing nicely.
“There was a nice little partnership with Gary and James Logan (41 for the eighth wicket) on debut. He batted time, which was what we wanted.
“It enabled me to go out there with a bit of license in a way, but I just wanted to bat with Gary for as long as I could.
“The main thing was I just didn’t want to bowl tonight to be honest with you! That was going through my mind a lot.
“I’d imagine that session was quite an entertaining session to watch.
“It’s great to be out there watching Gary play the way he did. I would imagine that was one of his better hundreds.
“It has to go my way when I’m swinging around like that, and I got a bit of luck.
“It was difficult to score when they bowled straight on a decent length, but as soon as you bowl any width or miss your length I’m just going to try and heave it wherever I can.
“Moeen came on with his little ropey mediums and nicked me off with not even a great ball. I was a bit annoyed because the cut’s one of my strong shots.
“But by then I was quite happy we’d got a decent score on the board.”
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BrooksyFerret</a> ???? “I’m determined to go out on a high. I’ll continue playing for that shirt as long as I’m playing for them.”<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/YourYorkshire?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#YourYorkshire</a> <a href="https://t.co/m2cRVT7boL">pic.twitter.com/m2cRVT7boL</a></p>— Yorkshire CCC (
YorkshireCCC) September 25, 2018
Brooks is playing his final game for Yorkshire before joining Somerset next month, and he is enjoying some send-off having recorded his second best bowling figures for the county.
“I’m just determined to go out on a high,” he added.
“I’ll keep giving for this shirt as long I’m playing for Yorkshire.
“The job was to keep us up, and we managed to secure that yesterday. Now I want to win the game.
“I was bit grumpy and annoyed yesterday because the game wasn’t going to plan, and we were a bit lazy in the field. But I’ve cheered up a bit now.
“I haven’t really thought about my future with Somerset yet.
“I’m just enjoying playing with some of my best friends and trying to soak up the time on the field and in the changing rooms with them because we’ve had a special relationship for the last six years.
“If we can get a win here, it will make the beer taste sweeter come Thursday night.”