Matthew Fisher believes tomorrow against Durham marks a huge day in Yorkshire’s season, with the ongoing LV= Insurance County Championship fixture at the Seat Unique Riverside set for a grandstand finish.
Yorkshire, defending a 246 target, need two more wickets to win. Durham, having closed today’s third day on 213-8, need 33 more runs.
Fisher shone with four wickets, claiming three of them after tea as the Division Two leaders fell from 126-2 to 173-8.
Ben Raine and Matthew Potts then shared 40 for the ninth wicket to bring the game back into the balance and engineer what will be a thrilling finale.
Yorkshire have not won a Championship match since the opening week of last season, and their promotion bid this season desperately needs a first win at the fifth attempt.
“I think it’s massive in our season,” said the England fast bowler.
“If we can beat these, who I’d say are one of the favourites – and they’re quite a way ahead of us, I’d say it rejuvenates our season.
“We’ll take a bit of time tonight and come back refreshed in the morning. Hopefully the legs pump a bit easier than they did towards the end of the day.
“I think we know how we want to bowl on that pitch. We didn’t get it right early on, and Leesy put us under pressure. You always look for a bit of swing and nip and go a bit fuller. Maybe we were caught out a bit. That was disappointing.
“But after tea, we showed how good we can be.”
With the uneven bounce – primarily low bounce now – this is not a pitch it up surface: “You’ve just got to bang away and try and hit the stumps,” said Fisher.
He continued: “They needed 70 when Raine and Potts came together, so credit to them. Both teams are here to play, and I thought they played brilliantly at the end there.
“We chucked everything at the them, but we just need one to roll.
“We’re confident for tomorrow, but the ball is pretty soft now (70 overs old).
“If we don’t take the wickets, we have to try and maybe keep them to one an over for 10 overs. Then I feel like a new ball might nip a bit more with 20 or so needed.
“This is why you play the game. As much as it’s stressful and you’re knackered, we need to go again in the morning. It’s two good teams slogging it out, and it feels like Division One standard.”
On his own performance, Fisher added: “I’m striving for consistency and rhythm and feel like I haven’t really had it yet this year. I’m still fighting for it. I feel like there’s been a couple of days where I’ve been unlucky as well, so maybe I deserved that today.”
