James Wharton spoke after day one about Yorkshire needing to be more ruthless after they got a lot of starts with the bat but failed to go on in their 297 against Derbyshire at Scarborough. Today very much showed that the county have learnt fast.
That was the word which perfectly summed up their day two performance at North Marine Road as they seized control of the LV= Insurance County Championship match after two days.
Dominance was there with ball and then bat as Derbyshire were limited to a first-innings 247 before the hosts closed on 179-2 in their second innings – a lead of 229.
Matthew Fisher finished with three wickets and was one of a number of key performers. Jordan Thompson also struck three times and Matthew Revis twice.
With the bat Fin Bean made 64, Adam Lyth 43 and captain Shan Masood 41 not out.
Win number two of 2023 is now very much on the cards.
Fisher said: “We were a bit disappointed with ourselves yesterday. We felt we gave them a lot of wickets. We had an honest conversation, which is good.
“Today, we were really ruthless with both bat and ball. The third innings can be tricky sometimes, but we were scoring at five or six-an-over.”
“The wickets were shared around a bit today. Coady was even apologising for how he bowled. We know what he can do, and he didn’t bowl as well as he can. But where he usually helps us out, we helped him out.
“I thought Tommo was the pick of the bowlers. He bowled nine maidens and was very consistent. He could have got du Plooy out about three times.”
Fisher described the pitch for this game – as well as the last Division Two fixture against Durham in late July – as “spongy”.
“It’s a bit slower than usual,” he said. “That’s probably because of the weather they’ve had.”
And on his own performance, he said: “When you go away to the Hundred (Southern Brave), that’s great. But you want to commit back to the group here and do your thing for the team.
“I was probably forcing it a little bit to start with and maybe searching for some swing that wasn’t there. But once I committed to a plan and hit a length, I probably bowled better.
“Had I not gone searching for swing and hit a length earlier, I’d have probably gone for less runs and took more wickets.”
Fisher’s extra pace hurried Derbyshire, and his five-over afternoon spell which yielded 2-16 was key to breaking the game open: “I played with the crease a bit,” he added.
“The one which got Dal nipped back quite a bit, so I was happy with that.”
