“We did everything else apart from win.”
That was Ottis Gibson’s summary of Yorkshire’s performance in their Vitality County Championship draw against Glamorgan at Headingley, which finished today.
Yorkshire dominated the fixture for the lion’s share of it, pretty much the whole of the first three days, but then Glamorgan hit back today with a sturdy second-innings display led by centuries for unbeaten captain Sam Northeast and Colin Ingram.
Instead of reflecting on a first win of 2024 that looked likely even at the start of day four, which Glamorgan started on 171-3 and still 127 behind, coach Gibson was instead talking about a fourth draw in five games.
Frustrated, clearly. That has been a theme for the West Indian in recent weeks. But there is a positive in that Yorkshire did at least take a maximum haul of 16 points available for the draw, just as they did against Derbyshire last week.
Gibson employed two spinners on a used pitch. Dom Bess and Dan Moriarty claimed four wickets apiece in the first innings. With the bat, Fin Bean hit a superb 173 and Joe Root 156.
“It’s difficult to keep saying you’re playing good cricket when you’re not winning, but we are playing good cricket,” said Gibson, whose side sit fourth in the table with 60 points, 14 behind leaders Sussex. The table-toppers have a game in hand.
“We bowled them out in 79 overs and batted, on a pitch where they scored at 2.5 runs per over, at 5.5 and got 500 runs quickly and quite easily.
“We gave ourselves enough time in this game (to bowl Glamorgan out), so you have to give them a lot of credit – Northeast and Ingram, the way they played yesterday and this morning.
“We spoke last week about taking 20 wickets at Headingley. That’s been our biggest issue. Not just at Headingley, away from home as well. We haven’t been able to do that, and that’s a bit frustrating on that front.
“But we cannot fault the effort and endeavour. There was some good skill on show as well from our guys.
“We took the decision to play two spinners on a used pitch. We have two very good ones in our squad, and they bowled fantastically well in the first innings to take eight wickets between them.
“We used every available option we have to try and get 20 wickets, and in the end it wasn’t to be.
“The difference in this game from the first innings to their second was the two heavy rollers. They had the opportunity for two, and they – in my experience in England – take the life out of the pitch.”
Asked if there was anything Yorkshire could have done differently to try and pick up more wickets today, Gibson said: “When you play two frontline spinners, I guess the captain’s thing is to go to those frontline spinners.
“Then we said, ‘We’ve also got some other good back-up spinners capable of taking wickets’.
“Sometimes when you need a partnership broken, it’s not always your best guys. Throw the ball to someone everybody least expects and he might be the guy. Today, that was Adam Lyth. Maybe that came a bit too late.”
While Bess, Moriarty and Root impressed, opener Bean’s 173 represented a career best score, and Gibson praised the rapidly improving young left-hander.
“He’s been one of our success stories from my time here,” he said.
“Remember when I first came and he wasn’t even in the system. We got him back in, and he’s been making great strides ever since.”
New ball quick Matthew Fisher suffered a left ankle injury whilst fielding just before tea on day three, and he didn’t take any further part in the match.
Gibson added: “It seems like he has sprained his left ankle on the outside.
“The medical team’s looking after him, and we’ll see how soon we can get him back on his feet.
“He’ll probably need some time – a couple of weeks or something – to get going again.”
While Fisher is a doubt for Sussex at Hove a week on Friday, Gibson said that fellow fast bowler Matt Milnes will not be ready for Sussex as the county manage his fitness following two stress fractures of his back since September of 2022.
