Yorkshire coach Andrew Gale and his players were left “gutted” by their rare Roses LV= Insurance County Championship defeat at Emirates Old Trafford.
The White Rose lost by an innings and 79 runs with 40 balls of the match remaining.
A commendable rearguard effort on day four saw Yorkshire recover from 92-4 in the opening half hour of play to 271-7 after tea, with Harry Brook top-scoring with 52 and Dom Bess adding 46.
Unfortunately Saqib Mahmood finished five wickets and Matthew Parkinson three, consigning Yorkshire to 271 all out and a first four-day defeat on this ground since 2000. Bess was last man out to Parkinson’s leg-spin.
It is Yorkshire’s first four-day defeat against any opponent since September 2019, owing much to them slipping to 21-6 and 40-7 on Thursday’s first day.
This was a fixture which had 589,000 views across the four days on Lancashire’s live stream. The average for their previous fixtures was only 150,000.
Gale said: “We’re absolutely gutted to lose the game. We thought we could come away with a draw.
“What is most gutting, though, is the way we batted on the first day (21-6 and 159 all out).
“At 20-6, the game’s lost in the first hour. There’s no hiding behind that.
“I’m as disappointed as the lads, and I feel sorry for some of members who travelled over for a Roses game the first time they are allowed back in the ground.
“It’s also live on Sky, and we can only apologise for the way we went about things on that first day.”
Gale went on: “After day one, I thought we showed a lot of character. Although they got a big score, they didn’t get them in a hurry. We kept them under 2.7 an over, which took time out of the game.
“Then, with the batting, to take it down to the wire, we’re disappointed.
“But I’ve mentioned it numerous times on interview, there’s only so many times you can get out of jail playing that way in the first innings.
“Next week’s team will look a lot different when you bring Dawid Malan and Gary Ballance into it, who have 70 first-class hundreds between them.
“A lot of teams would have faded away and it been done in two and a half days. But I think you’ve seen the character and resilience in this side. They don’t just lay down and die.
“We have just got to find a way of getting ahead of the game and not being one nil, two nil and three nil down on the first day.”
Yorkshire are now only two points clear of third-placed Northamptonshire after seven games in the battle for a top two finish.
They face Sussex next up at Emerald Headingley, starting on Thursday. Gary Ballance and Dawid Malan will both play and bolster the batting.
Meanwhile, Gale has confirmed he expects Malan, Jonny Bairstow and Adil Rashid to be available for “between four and six games” at the start of the Vitality Blast next month.
New Zealand overseas fast bowler Lockie Ferguson arrives in Leeds on Wednesday.
