Lyth recalls back-to-back Championship triumphs 10 years on

This September, it will be 10 years since Yorkshire won the second of back-to-back County Championship titles with a side including current players Jonny Bairstow, Adam Lyth, Adil Rashid and Joe Root.

Having won the Division One crown in 2014, under the coach and captaincy team of Jason Gillespie and Andrew Gale, they did so again a year later in record-breaking fashion. They won the title from Middlesex by 68 points. Their haul of 286 points was a record, as was the tally of 11 wins from 16 games.

For this year’s edition of the Yorkshire CCC Yearbook, we wanted to celebrate that achievement and have done so by speaking to opening batter Lyth for his recollections. We catch up with the prolific left-hander in mid-January whilst he is on franchise duty with the Gulf Giants in the UAE-based ILT20 competition.

Lyth, now aged 37, summed things up when he gave a pretty succinct answer to the question of: “That wasn’t a bad side, was it?”

“Not half!” he smiled.

Lyth went on: “It was some of the best cricket I’ve been involved with at the club, without a doubt. In 2014, we generally played – if it’s possible – the perfect games of cricket. If we didn’t, we weren’t far off.

Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. Adam Lyth holds the County Championship trophy as he and his Yorkshire team-mates celebrate the 2014 triumph at Trent Bridge having beaten Nottinghamshire.

“In the first innings, we were getting big scores, the 450s and 500s, and then bowling teams out twice in different ways.

“It could be Brooksy (Jack Brooks) and Siddy (Ryan Sidebottom) with the new ball, or when it got a bit flatter we used Pudsy (Liam Plunkett) as the enforcer. When pitches were taking more spin, Rash (Adil Rashid) came into the game with his genius leg-spin.”

Let us look briefly at stats of the two seasons. In 2014, Yorkshire finished top on 255 points from 16 games, winning eight. They won the title with victory in their penultimate round clash with Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge – their closest challengers for much of the summer even if they did fall away to finish fourth behind Warwickshire and Sussex.

Lyth was the division’s leading run-scorer with 1,489 runs, prompting a call-up to England’s Test team for the following summer’s Ashes series. He also toured the West Indies at the start of the county campaign alongside Bairstow and Gary Ballance but didn’t play.

Seamer Jack Brooks was the second leading wicket-taker in the division.

In 2015, we’ve already mentioned Yorkshire’s record in Division One. Bairstow (1,108) and Gale (1,006) both topped 1,000 runs for the season, while Brooks again led the way with the ball. Lyth only played seven matches due to England duty.

Picture by Sarah Ansell/Getty Images. From left-right, Jack Brooks, Adam Lyth, Gary Ballance and Ryan Sidebottom celebrate winning the 2015 Championship title at Lord’s.

There were so many more contributors, too many to mention in fact. Lyth’s opening partner Alex Lees was exceptional at the top of the order, all-rounder Tim Bresnan was talismanic, Jack Leaning and Steve Patterson were vital, so too Adil Rashid with bat and ball. New Zealand overseas batter Kane Williamson impressed in the first season, while Australian batter Aaron Finch chipped in across both seasons. Cheteshwar Pujara and Glenn Maxwell also scored centuries in 2015, a season which preceded a near miss in regards to the hat-trick of titles in 2016 when Middlesex and Dawid Malan triumphed.

Lyth continued: “On a personal note, 2014, getting seven centuries, was extra special. I played some of my best cricket. I contributed by either saving games or setting them up. Myself and Leesy with that opening partnership in 2014 was as good as it gets.

“Obviously, myself and Beany (Fin Bean) have forged something I see as very special in recent years. But myself and Leesy were very, very good in 2014. I obviously didn’t play too much in ’15 because of my England Test call-up.”

Lyth hit 230 in a memorable win over Northamptonshire at Wantage Road in early June 2014, Yorkshire recovering from being bowled out for 136 in the first innings to win by 271 runs. Having conceded a deficit of 115 on first innings, Lyth and Lees, who added 138, shared 375 second time around to tip the balance.

Chasing 432, Northamptonshire slipped to 160 all out as Plunkett impressed with four-for.

At the start of September, Yorkshire beat Lancashire by an innings and 18 runs at Emirates Old Trafford. Lyth made a first-innings 251 – a score which remains a career best – and underpinned 610-6 declared after the hosts had been bowled out for 278. He shared 296 for the sixth wicket with Rashid, who made a superb 159 not out. Lancashire were bowled out for 314 second innings. Having claimed three wickets in the first innings, Rashid’s leg-spin accounted for five in the second.

Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. Adam Lyth appeals for a wicket in 2015.

“At Northampton, I remember that as clear as day,” said Lyth. “We won the toss and batted but should have bowled first. I got nought so was on a pair second innings. But myself and Leesy got through, and it became a really nice batting surface.

“We put on 300-odd, and I ended up getting a double century. Pudsy then went through them, bowling the absolute speed of light.

“At Old Trafford, Rash made my knock distinctly average. Some of the shots he played were unbelievable. It was taking a lot of spin, and they had three quality spinners in Parry, Croft and Kerrigan. He was hitting them over extra cover from out of the rough at will. It was one of my best knocks, but Rash was miles better.”

Despite Lyth saying Yorkshire played near perfect cricket in ’14, there’s a strong argument to suggest ’15 was a better achievement given the amount of points and wins achieved with a squad facing significant disruption. There was the England call-ups and captain Gale missing the start of the season because of an ECB ban following an altercation with Lancashire’s Ashwell Prince in that aforementioned Roses clash.

“It was remarkable that we managed to get that amount of wins and points,” said Lyth. “But that just shows the strength in depth that we had.”

Having looked back, an obvious follow-up topic of discussion for Lyth is to look forwards. For example, are there comparisons which can be drawn between that team and the current crop, one which has just achieved promotion?

Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. Adam Lyth’s only Test century was scored against New Zealand at Headingley in May 2015. His elevation to the England team that summer limited his involvement in Yorkshire’s second Championship title success.

“You could see signs early season last year that we had it in us, but we just didn’t do it for long enough,” he reflected. “We were playing a really good two days but were letting teams back in.

“In 2014 and 2015, if we got in front, we put our foot on the throat. It was like getting a boxer on the ropes and going in for the kill. If you go for it at that stage, they’re not getting back up.

“The second half last year, that changed with those five wins out of the last seven games. As soon as we got teams against the ropes, we were knocking them out.

“Especially going into Division One this season, we have to do that again if we get ahead of teams. I’m sure we’ll recognise that and will do it.”

While those two Championship titles are the only domestic trophies Lyth has won in a distinguished career which started in 2006, he’s confident that the same statistic won’t stand when he comes to hang up that Gunn and Moore bat of his.

“I’m nowhere near going to be finishing,” he added. “I’ve got plenty of cricket left in me in the years to come, so I’d love to be lifting some silverware with Yorkshire – whether that’s in red or white ball cricket.