Ottis Gibson saw his morning optimism dashed by an impressive Hampshire batting display on day four at Scarborough.
Yorkshire lost their third game in four in the LV= Insurance County Championship by seven wickets as Hampshire chased 214, advancing serenely from 9-0 at the start of play.
“They were four intense days,” said the coach. “To get to where we were, bowled out for 150 from 33-6 and then to bowl them out for 218, we got back in the game.
“I thought we played nicely in the second innings yesterday. We probably could have got a few more runs, but we showed a lot of character. Then, I turned up this morning, with the overheads, and I was quite optimistic with the way the game’s gone before.
“Although 214 might not seem a lot, the cloud cover gave us some hope that it might be enough. We needed an early strike this morning, and we didn’t get one.
“I spoke to Patto yesterday, and he said that the pitch got a lot flatter and slower under the sun yesterday. So the fact we didn’t take wickets this morning got us further behind the game.
“Hampshire are second in the County Championship for a reason – they are a very good team – and they batted us out of it.”
Yorkshire finish the day mid-table in Division One on 116 points.
Unfortunately, after a run of recent defeats, they find themselves looking over their shoulders rather than up in Division One.
Ahead of the final four games in September, they have a 17-point buffer from second-bottom Somerset.
“We know exactly where we are. There are no concerns, but we are aware,” added Gibson.
“We have played a lot of cricket this season.
“We didn’t have an overseas in this game. We went with Shannon for a couple of games, but it didn’t pan out the way we expected.
“We might have a chat with Goughie and see if we need to get somebody in for the last four games, someone who is going to affect the outcome of games.”
