Picture by John Heald. Fabulous Fin Bean celebrates reaching his latest career century this morning.
Fabulous Fin Bean scored his first Rothesay County Championship century in a year and a day today and went on to convert it into a double as he determinedly helped Yorkshire respond in kind to Nottinghamshire’s first-innings 487 all out during the third day at Trent Bridge.
The emerging opener has had a challenging start to life in Division One this season, with a previous top score of 31. But he battled through to flourish against a county who are currently top of the table, amassing 224 in 489 balls as the visitors closed on 414-6 from 151 overs.
Yorkshire started the day on 154-3 in their first innings, with left-handed Bean on 86, and they now trail by only 73.
He ended the day just short of becoming the first man ever to have faced 500 balls or more in an innings for Yorkshire in a fully recorded first-class match.
This was 23-year-old Bean’s sixth first-class career century in his 37th appearance. All have come in the Championship, the previous five in Division Two.
The last of those was against Gloucestershire at Scarborough last June. That, like this one, was the eighth match of a season in which Yorkshire were struggling for momentum. He posted a first-day 164 and shared 307 for the first wicket with Adam Lyth.
Picture by John Heald. Fin Bean is congratulated by his captain Jonny Bairstow after reaching his century this morning.
Yorkshire went on to claim a win against Glos which kick-started their run towards promotion.
Here, Bean’s main partnerships were 101 for the fifth wicket with his captain Jonny Bairstow, who contributed 41 from mid-morning to midway through the afternoon, and 120 for the sixth with Matthew Revis.
The latter ended the day on 54 not out off 149 balls.
This match is highly unlikely to end in a Yorkshire win.
But, after back-to-back defeats back in May, a sturdy performance in a high-scoring draw against an on-song title-chasing side can be marked down as an impressive step in the right direction.
Fingers crossed, that’s confirmed tomorrow and the White Rose can kick on once again during the final six matches in the coming weeks and months.
Picture by John Heald. Jonny Bairstow plays forward against spin at Trent Bridge today.
Yorkshire’s progress was watchful from ball one today.
They started with Bean alongside nightwatchman Dan Moriarty and the deficit standing at 333 on a docile pitch.
Bean pulled a boundary in the day’s opening over off Patterson-White to move to 90, but he patiently moved through the nineties to reach his ton off 236 balls shortly before midday, by which stage Yorkshire had moved to 182-4.
They had just lost Moriarty for eight, caught at slip on the drive.
Bean was strong on the pull, the cut and drove well down the ground as Nottinghamshire’s bowlers failed to get much change out of the pitch and the Kookaburra ball.
Yorkshire lost two wickets through to tea, with Bairstow falling lbw to Patterson-White, leaving the score at 277-5 in the 102nd over. By this time, Bean had reached his 150 off 348 balls.
Picture by John Heald. Fin Bean cuts against Farhan Ahmed’s off-spin to reach his century.
Bean was dropped at mid-wicket on 170 as he pulled at Mohammad Abbas during the latter stages of the afternoon, with Yorkshire having claimed two batting bonus points for reaching 110 overs at 302-5.
Ever since scoring a national second-team record score of 441 just across the Radcliffe Road at the Lady Bay ground in 2022, a career launching innings, Bean has shown a liking for a big score.
Of his six Championship centuries, three of them have topped the 160-mark and four above 130.
Bean was 185 by the time Yorkshire reached tea at 320-5, 18 short of avoiding the follow-on and 167 away from first-innings parity.
Shortly after tea, Bean drilled Patterson-White flat over long-off to move into the 190s.
And by the time he reached 200 off 450 balls Yorkshire were well beyond the follow-on target of 338, at 364-5 in the 134th.
Picture by John Heald. Fin Bean celebrates his double century with Matthew Revis this evening.
Bean, who spent nine hours and 21 minutes at the crease, wasn’t far off facing 500 balls in the innings. No Yorkshire batter has ever done that in a fully recorded first-class innings.
But Martyn Moxon faced 490 against Worcestershire at New Road in 1994 in compiling a career best 274 not out.
Yorkshiremen Len Hutton (847 for 364, against Australia, 1938) and Richard Blakey (503 for 221, against Zimbabwe 1990) both faced more than 500 balls in an innings whilst playing for England and England A respectively.
Revis reached his first fifty of 2025 off 132 balls just before close as the deficit went below 100.
And Bean became the day’s third wicket when he edged Farhan Ahmed’s off-spin to first slip off a leading edge playing to leg, leaving Yorkshire at 407-6 in the 147th over.
George Hill will begin day four unbeaten on 4.
