Ben Coad moved to 300 first-class wickets and beyond as Yorkshire made a superb start to their final round clash with Northamptonshire at Headingley – and says that his career scalp first remains as clear as day.
Coad, 30, struck three times as Northamptonshire ended day two on 117-6 from 40 overs, with the weather finally relenting to allow for a 3.30pm start today.
The new ball seamer had Saif Zaib caught at first slip by George Hill, one of two catches – added to two wickets – for the newly capped all-rounder.
Coad’s first wicket was Usman Arshad caught behind by Andrew Hodd in late June 2016, a high-scoring draw against Durham up at the Riverside ground.
“I remember my first, which feels a long time ago,” he beamed. “But I think I can recall all my wickets.
“I’m very proud. I think I said it last week, I remember there was a stat that 200 wickets under 20 had not been done in 50 years or something, and I just missed out. But I made it a goal of mine to go to 300 and make sure it was under 20. I’m chuffed to bits.
“It’s a been big effort, and Gibbo (Ottis Gibson) has helped a lot this last year – pushing me a bit harder.”
Yorkshire are now within touching distance of promotion after claiming two bowling bonus points this evening. The target is now a maximum of eight points to hold off third-placed Middlesex.
That means that a draw in this fixture would suffice.
Coad, however, added: “We’ve gone out there to win the game. We’re not thinking about drawing.
“We want to bowl them out and set the game up. We had 40 overs out there, and we thought halfway to bowling them out would be a great session. So to get six, it’s ideal.”
