Matthew Fisher has explained the thinking behind his plan in getting key man James Vince out during Yorkshire’s excellent second day against Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl.
Yorkshire are in an excellent position at the halfway stage of their LV= Insurance County Championship fixture. They are 34-1 in their second innings, leading by 114 after a 15-wicket day.
The visitors started on 197-6 in their first innings and made 243 before bowling Hampshire out for 163, including two wickets for the excellent seamer Fisher.
One of those was England batsman Vince caught at deep square-leg off a top-edged pull as the hosts fell to 86-4 during the afternoon.
“I felt at that point that I wasn’t getting much seam movement, but I was bowling tight,” said Yorkshire’s new ball quick. “I was bowling a good hard length and he was defending at me pretty well.
“I thought if I slip in a bouncer, he’s compulsive – he takes it on no matter what.
“So he might take it on and get out of control or leave it and the short ball’s in his mind to hopefully bring lbw back into it.”
As aforementioned, Yorkshire are in excellent order with pitch conditions tricky for batting. Fisher, however, said: “I wouldn’t say we have an unassailable lead.
“We are just going to try to get as many as we can.
“We know they have been in the field a long time, so it is just about trying to get through that new ball and then it will hopefully become a little easier to bat.
“We were really happy with how we applied ourselves as a team (with the bat on day one).
“Galey and Patto said they were as impressed as they’ve been all season with how we batted yesterday – the fight we put in on a tricky wicket having been put in.
“It’s batting time as well, which people don’t necessarily see the effect it has on their bowlers. I think Kyle Abbott is struggling with his ankle, for example.
“It’s about getting them into their fourth, fifth and sixth spells, and hopefully we’ll see the rewards for that tomorrow.
“It’s a tricky pitch to drive on length. You can’t really lean on a ball and it goes through. You find yourself trying to hit it rather than time it, and then you get in bad positions. There’s something about the pitch which isn’t free-flowing.
“I think we bowled well as a group. Myself and Tommo spoke about our first spells and said that we didn’t feel as in rhythm as we’d like. We have obviously played white ball cricket lately, which is different.
“I describe it as knowing where I’m going to put it. In my second spell, I knew where I was going to put it.”
Fisher added: “Hopefully if we can get through the first hour tomorrow, we can put on a really big score and be in a position to put them in whenever we want.”
