By John Virr – 2nd XI Scorer
Winning the toss on a sunny but cool morning Yorkshire invited Durham to bat first and throughout the day the game was watched by a good number of hardy souls.
Matt Rees, from Castleford , making his debut opened the attack bowling from the Trafalgar Sq end and his opening spell saw him take 1-22 having Fontaine-Jackson lbw for 19. He was replaced by Louis Backhouse, also on debut, and he struck next having Scott Borthwick caught behind by Joe Thompson – Durham 77-2. Mike Finan had Symington caught by Will Luxton at slip and at lunch they were 106-3 from 27 overs.
Opener Ghunman reached his 50 from 67 deliveries with 12 fours but he was the 4th wicket to fall being well taken at 2nd slip by Owen Smith to give Backhouse his 2nd victim – 126-4. This became 139-5 with the same bowler having Killeen caught behind for 35. Backhouse was again in the action when a fine throw from fine leg led to the run out of Bowman (150-6).
Rees returned to the attack and claimed his 2nd wicket having Minto caught at 2nd slip by Smith and Durham were 160-7. Hogg and McAlindon added 50 in 74 balls before the former was bowled by Jafer Chohan for 27 and tea was reached at 244-8 with McAlindon 43 not out.
After tea he and Conners extended their partnership to 50 from 74 balls before Backhouse had McAlindon caught behind. Backhouse missed out on a debut “5 for” when a chance went to ground and it was left to Khan to take the final wicket that of Conners for a run a ball 65. However Durham had added 153 for their last 3 wickets as they were dismissed for 313.
Yorkshire had 15 overs to face in the cold and gloomy conditions and at the close had reached 64 but for the loss of both openers: Luxton bowled for 27 from 24 balls with 5 fours and Noah Kelly caught at point for 15 from 29. Smith is 7 not out and Khan 13 not out.
Day 2
Resuming at 64-2 Smith and Khan extended their partnership to 73 before the former was caught at deep mid wicket for 26 made from 69 balls with 4 fours. Shortly after this Khan completed his first half century in 76 balls and at lunch he was unbeaten on 57 and Jawad Akhtar 14 not out, Yorkshire 151-3.
Khan fell shortly into the afternoon session having added only 1 more run – he was well caught in the gully for 58 from120 balls with 10 fours. Matthew Milnes joined Akhtar but only 10 more were added before Akhtar was caught behind having made 28 from 72 balls with 3 fours.
Milnes and Jafer Chohan added 49 in 60 balls before the former was also caught behind for 30 from 44 balls with 5 fours. Chohan made his highest “red ball” score of 40 from 57 balls with 3 fours and a six before being caught at deep mid wicket and tea was taken with Yorkshire 277-7, trailing by 36: Joe Thompson 22 not out and Louie Owens 10 not out – the 2nd new ball is due shortly into the evening session.
Unbeknown to us it transpired that Yorkshire had declared during the tea interval and following a rush to get things ready Durham started their 2nd innings.
Finan bowled Fontaine-Jackson for 11 with the total at 17 but this turned out to be our only success of the evening as Ghunman and Borthwick added 105 unbeaten to end the day on 122-1. Ghunman 44 not out and Borthwick 54 not out having reached his half century from 64 balls with 7 fours and a six.
The final day starts with Durham leading by 158.
Day 3
Durham started the final day leading by 158 with 9 2nd innings wickets remaining and play began on time under a blue sky with a warm temperature.
Due to exams there was a change of wicket keeper and it was the replacement keeper, Noah Kelly who caught the first 2 wickets to fall – Borthwick for 83 made from 99 balls with 11 fours and a six and Symington without scoring. Durham now 158-3.
Wickets continued to fall with Bowman making 30 from 43 balls and Hogg 25 not out from only 11 balls and at lunch Durham were 246-7; 3 wickets for Jafer Chohan.
During the lunch interval Durham declared leaving Yorkshire 283 for victory from a minimum of 67 overs.
Noah Kelly and Will Luxton added 39 for the first wicket before the former was caught behind for 23 from 30 balls. Owen Smith made 3 before being caught at 3rd slip and Jawad Akhtar 22 from 32 but caught at slip. Yorkshire 80-3.
Throughout this Will Luxton remained steadfast and shortly before the tea interval he reached his half century from 63 balls with 6 fours and a six. At tea he was unbeaten on 57 with Matt Milnes 28 not out – 135-3 needing a further 148 for victory.
Milnes made 32 from 55 balls with 5 fours before being bowled by Hogg – he and Luxton had added 64 in 85 balls, however 144-4 became 171-5 as Chohan was caught behind for a run a ball 13.
With the Eastern terrace area filling up with children and families awaiting their Friday night games Hishaam Khan joined Luxton with 112 required and around 30 overs available. Luxton, with a mixture of shots reached his century with consecutive maximums into the aforementioned Eastern terrace from 108 deliveries with 13 fours and 3 sixes. Khan had been somewhat of a “sleeping partner” in the partnership (9 from 16) but finished with his 2nd half century of the game from 43 balls hitting the winning runs as Yorkshire won by 5 wickets. Khan 51 no and Luxton 127 not out from 133 balls.
Yorkshire travel to Billericay to play Essex next – play to commence Tuesday 13th May for a 3 day friendly.
