“It’s another frustrating four days where we’ve played some good stuff and couldn’t get a result,” said Ottis Gibson. “There’s nothing you can do about the weather.”
Frustration was very much the buzz word for Yorkshire coach Gibson as he reflected on a four-day draw against Worcestershire at New Road, a fixture which saw 134 overs lost to rain and bad light.
“We’ve been working really hard to try and win games of cricket, and unfortunately the weather’s put paid to that again.”
For the vast majority of this fixture, Yorkshire played the better cricket.
They made 407 in the first innings, a total underpinned by opener Fin Bean’s superb career best 135. They then bowled Worcestershire out for 242 in reply and enforced the follow-on thanks to Ben Coad’s excellent 5-33.
Unfortunately, a key moment came on day three when last-wicket pair Ben Gibbon and Adam Finch advanced Worcestershire’s first innings from 179-9 and took 36 valuable overs out of the game.
“Yeah, it would (be something we’d have changed),” said Gibson. “But that would be nit-picking.
“Once the hardness goes out of that Kookaburra ball and the shine goes off it and the batters are diligent in their defence, it’s hard to dislodge them. Those two guys played really well.
“We’ve had a good week. We’re missing some top class players, Shan Masood and Dawid Malan, but the youngsters have stepped up and made some really good contributions.”
On the Kookaburra ball, which has been trialled for the last two LV= Insurance County Championship games, Gibson wasn’t particularly complimentary.
Worcestershire’s Joe Leach said the ball made for “attritional” cricket.
“I think that Joe is being very polite to be honest,” said Gibson, no doubt delighted that the Dukes will return for next week’s clash with Sussex at Headingley.
“It swings for a little bit and then it stops swinging and the hardness goes. Then it does nothing for a very long time.
“When you think it loses it’s hardness after 25-30 overs, you’re asking fast bowlers to bowl 30 overs with a ball that’s doing absolutely nothing. I’m not in favour.”
There were two obvious positives from this fixture, Bean and Coad, while overseas Australian seamer Mark Steketee impressed with three first-innings wickets in his second appearance for Yorkshire.
Gibson said: “Beany’s played really well for us this year.
“You remember the story about how we got him back last year. He played some second-team cricket first and got 400 there. We signed him on a contract and put him in the team, and he’s gone from strength to strength.
“He had a really good winter in the indoor school with Ali Maiden, and it’s good to see that hard work paying off in terms of runs. He’ll only get better. He’s just turned 21, and he’s got a lot going for him.
“Any team that’s got Fisher and Coad leading the attack will be a good bowling attack. We don’t always have them, but when we do they make our attack much better.
“What you can say about Coady. With the new ball in his hand, he terrorises good players. To get five-for on that pitch with the Kookaburra ball was fantastic.
“We knew Stek was coming out of no cricket in Australia. The first game he played, he was a little bit rusty. But this game, you’re getting closer to seeing the real guy that takes a lot of wickets in Australia. He was fantastic. We’re looking forward to see him over the next two games.”
Dawid Malan was rested from this game, while Jordan Thompson missed out on selection. Both are likely to be back in contention to face Sussex from next Wednesday.
“Both Fish and Coady got through a lot of overs – about 32 each,” added Gibson.
“We have a couple of days off before the next game. So we’ll see how those two guys pull up. We’ll have a look at the pitch at Headingley and will try and come up with the best 11.
“We’ll have a chat with Mala and see where he’s at. The initial conversation we had was him resting for this game and playing the next one.”
