Picture by Simon Wilkinson/SWPix.com. Anthony McGrath reflected on Yorkshire’s draw at Trent Bridge, their third of the season in the Rothesay County Championship.
Anthony McGrath was more encouraged than delighted as he prepared to leave Trent Bridge this evening with a 12-point haul in the bag following Yorkshire’s draw against Rothesay County Championship leaders Nottinghamshire.
Head coach McGrath has time and again this season shown a positive attitude with regards to chasing results, but a win here was a stretch too far given the placid nature of the pitch and with the Kookaburra ball in play.
In truth, neither side got anywhere near looking like they would win the game. Nottinghamshire were bowled out for 487 in their first innings, Yorkshire replied with 510 all out and the hosts ended the game at 4.50pm on 148-1.
Only 21 wickets fell across four days.
“Notts have been really good this season,” said McGrath. “And I think it was important for the batters to put in a good performance and get some confidence back.
“Certainly getting some points on the board. You know, hopefully we can take that into next week (against Essex at York) and use that as a real positive.
“It’s been pretty attritional cricket. It’s a wicket we played the T20 on earlier in the month, so we knew it was going to be slow. And with it being a hybrid, they normally just get flatter and flatter. That’s been the case.
“It’s been a pretty slow, benign surface. We expected it probably to turn a little bit more, but it’s not done that. It’s stayed really hard throughout.”
McGrath’s believes Yorkshire’s only window of opportunity was shut at the start of day two when Notts advanced their first innings from 298-6 overnight on day one to near 500.
“That’s where you’re looking to strike and bat once,” he reflected.
“But, obviously, it got away from us. We tried to be a bit aggressive with that new ball and at the tail, and they got a few too many too quickly.
“We put a few catches down as well. Having said that, I think they give us quite a few wickets.
“We had four or five caught in front of the wicket, cover and mid-wicket. So, it’s been a wicket where it’s been tough to get people out conventionally.”
Despite not achieving a second win in eight games this season, there were still plenty of positives for McGrath and his players to reflect upon.
Dan Moriarty claiming four wickets in the first innings, for example, and Matthew Revis finishing unbeaten on 93 when the White Rose were bowled out at lunch.
However, chief amongst them was Fin Bean’s fabulous career best 224 following a difficult start to the season which had seen the opener post a top score of only 31 in the previous seven games.
“Everyone’s obviously really pleased for him. It’s been a tough start to the season for Fin. But a mark of a good player is when he does get in he doesn’t give it away.
“He showed once he gets in, he’s got those powers of concentration. He sticks to his areas where he looks to score, and I thought it was a really composed innings.
“We know that he’s scored runs heavily in the early part of his career. It’s not like he hasn’t done it before. It’s just been about getting that belief back.”
And on Revis’s unbeaten 93, the coach said: “The end to our innings was unfortunate, really.
“We wanted to try and get about 100 in front and then make it a bit of a niggly afternoon. But we lost three wickets pretty quickly. He’ll be disappointed (not to get a hundred) because he’s batted ever so well there.”
McGrath, meanwhile, says Abdullah Shafique is due to arrive in England this evening ahead of making his Yorkshire debut against Essex at York on Sunday.
The Pakistani overseas batter has now been granted his visa, something which didn’t arrive in time for him to play at Trent Bridge.
“We’ve managed to get him here with all the complications, so that’s good,” said the coach. “He’s got a few days now. We’ll train at York on Saturday. But, yes, he’s going to be available for York, which is great news.”
On the omission of new-ball seamer Ben Coad from this game, the coach added: “It was just really between him and Jack White.
“Ben’s probably thankful he didn’t play now, having seen this wicket and the ball!
“Obviously on a used pitch, we had to go two spinners. And we just felt Jack, the way he’s bowled this season, more nibble than swing, we just thought that might be more useful.
“It was a tough decision with Ben’s record, but he understood. I think it’s showing we’ve got that depth in our seam as well, that you can leave someone like Ben out.”
