Coach Ottis Gibson was satisfied but far from ecstatic after seeing his Yorkshire side secure a fourth day Roses draw against Lancashire at Emirates Old Trafford.
The sixth-placed county in Division One claimed a 13-point haul from their seventh draw in 11 LV= Insurance County Championship matches, moving them 25 points clear of second-bottom Warwickshire in the fight against relegation.
Set a 302 target in a minimum of 84 overs on day four, Yorkshire finished on 102-3 from 63.2 overs in a determined batting display led by Tom Kohler-Cadmore’s 34 not out, 25 from debut opener Fin Bean and 18 not out for Will Fraine.
Meanwhile, Gibson has confirmed that Yorkshire are trying to sign Ben Mike from Leicestershire on loan for the final three games of the season, the all-rounder who has signed a three-year deal to move to Headingley in the winter.
With that move in mind, the Foxes have opted against picking Mike for the remainder of the season.
On the Roses game, Gibson said: “We’ll take the draw, but the feeling is that we didn’t do enough in the game to get ourselves more into it.
“I’m proud of the lads with the way we batted today. Another team could have capitulated today. The way Tom played, Will and Fin, I think he’s had a very good debut.
“Even though Fin didn’t go on and get a hundred or a fifty, he faced a lot of balls and spent a lot of time in the middle. Those innings will do the world for him going forwards into the rest of the season.
“To have walked away with a draw, whether you think we deserved it or not, we’ll take it.”
Gibson continued: “First innings, we did well. We bowled them out for 276 from 180-0. It was a really good comeback. George Hill had a fantastic day out.
“The chat in the dressing room was, ‘Let’s try and go big and bat once in the game’. But they bowled nicely and put us under pressure. Fin made his debut and played really well, but we lost a lot of wickets and didn’t have enough momentum to get us past their score. 250 was ok.
“At that stage, the game is going nowhere, both teams cancelling each other out. Then, the way Wells came out and played yesterday afternoon caught us a little bit by surprise. But we took too long to react.
“It was very good batting from him, but poor from us in that we didn’t react quickly enough.
“That was then the turning point in the game and put us completely behind the eight-ball.
“Today, we didn’t want to be batting to try and draw the game. The initial talk was, ‘Let’s try and be positive and see how we can keep the scoreboard moving. See where we are at tea. If we played nicely enough, scored runs, it gives ourselves a chance to chase 130 in the last session’. But they bowled nicely.
“Once Lythy got out, Fin played the way he played and we had to sit in.”
On debutant Bean, who also made 41 in the first innings, Gibson said: “It’s a Roses match, a big match.
“It’s not a Lancashire attack that has got Anderson and Mahmood and these guys in, but it’s still a decent attack that put us under pressure on a sluggish pitch.
“So the way he approached his innings – he’s a calm guy anyway – he took his time and played to his strengths really nicely.
“The way he approached both of his innings was fantastic.”
With regards to Mike, Gibson confirmed: “We’ve applied for a loan for Ben. Leicestershire have decided they are not going to play him anymore, and we’ve applied for a loan.
“Hopefully that will get sorted in the next couple of days and he can join us.”
England quick Matthew Fisher has been with Yorkshire’s squad this week as he completes his recovery from the back stress fracture he suffered during the county’s opening week win over Gloucestershire in April.
Fisher will play second-team cricket against Lancashire at Blackpool next week with the hope of playing in the Championship before the end of the season.
“Potentially, yes. That’s the plan,” Gibson added.
?“I have to commend our medical team. They’ve done a fantastic job with him and his progress back onto the field.
“We put together a back to play plan for him, which involved a lot of what you saw him doing this week (bowling in the middle and sub-fielding).
“I have to admit that when I see him bowling, I get excited and think, ‘To me, he looks like he’s ready’.
“I keep saying to the physios, ‘Back in the day when we didn’t have all this sports science and a coach saw a guy bowl this much, he would be straight back in the team.
“But there’s been a process around how we manage him.
?“He’s going to go and play at Blackpool next week.
“We want him to get a lot of time on his feet, but we’ll still manage how many overs he bowls. He won’t be bowling 25 overs in a day. He will try and manage somewhere between 10-15 in a day.
?“If he comes through that, then depending how things go, maybe Surrey might be too soon. But, definitely, if everything goes well in Blackpool, there’s a strong possibility he could play the last game (Gloucestershire).”
