In our final piece of the Tatts’ Magic Moments series, Jonny Tattersall looks back on Yorkshire’s end-of-season draw against Northamptonshire at Headingley in September.
It was the one which sealed the county’s promotion back to Division One of the Rothesay County Championship.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Jonny Tattersall (centre, front row) and Yorkshire’s squad and staff celebrate winning County Championship promotion in September.
Jonny Tattersall looked back proudly on Yorkshire’s County Championship promotion-winning campaign of 2024 and revealed: “For me, it actually felt like we’d gone back up at the first time of asking.
“We didn’t plan on getting relegated in 2022, and I know it wasn’t the first time – it was the second year. But the points deduction in 2023 put a stop to any chance of us being able to go up that season.”
Stand-in captain Tattersall and his team-mates sealed second place in Division Two with a dominant performance during a final week draw against Northamptonshire at Headingley.
They went into that fixture needing a maximum of 10 points to pip Middlesex to second place in the table and claimed 16 from their seventh draw in 14 games added to five wins.
Both that fixture and Middlesex’s clash with champions Sussex at Hove were heavily rain-affected.
Play didn’t start at Headingley until the second evening, while they failed to get on at Hove until a similar time on day three.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Jonny Tattersall captained Yorkshire during the second half of the Championship season.
Having elected to bowl, Yorkshire limited Northamptonshire – for whom new White Rose seam bowling signing Jack White played – to 117-6 on day two and returned during the early stages of day three to bowl them out for 147.
Ben Coad starred with 4-51 from 18 overs added to three wickets for departing Matthew Fisher, two for George Hill and one for Jordan Thompson.
“We definitely weren’t complacent, but the confidence we had left us feeling that we would have to play terrible that week and get beat and Middlesex would have to play really well against Sussex on a fairly flat track at Hove to pip us,” said Tattersall.
“The rain obviously helped our cause.
“It was going to make losing the game even harder, and obviously it rained down at Sussex as well.”
With Middlesex needing a maximum 24-point haul to have any realistic chance of overhauling Yorkshire, they went on the attack with the bat late on day three against Sussex and were bowled out for 271.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. George Hill, in the helmet, and Jordan Thompson were in the wickets and runs against Northamptonshire.
That pre-game 10 points needed was down to six because Middlesex missed out on four batting points, and Yorkshire claimed three of those with the ball.
That meant they needed to reach 350 with the bat in the first innings, which they achieved after tea on Saturday’s third day when James Wharton punched a single down to long-off against the part-time spin of Saif Zaib.
It sent the Yorkshire dressing room balcony into raptures.
“When we took the six wickets on that second evening, we knew that it was pretty much job done,” said Tattersall. “But we came back and finished it off next morning with the ball.
“Then we started off with the bat and got closer and closer to their score with just one wicket down, it was very much a case of, ‘This is all but over, we just have to see out the game’.”
“The moment we sealed promotion was great,” continued the wicketkeeper-batter.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Jonny Bairstow congratulates James Wharton on his 162 not out which helped secure Yorkshire’s promotion back to the County Championship first division on day three.
“There was a bit of comedy when Luxy (Will Luxton) punched Wharts on the way past each other completing the run.
“That sort of summed up what the dressing room’s like. We just really enjoy each other’s company and have a good laugh about things like that.
“It was really nice having everybody on that balcony celebrating.”
Yorkshire’s early dominance with the ball in that fixture was followed by more dominance with the bat.
Opener Adam Lyth hit a superb 147 to pass 1,200 Championship runs for the summer – he finished with 1,215 – and shared a second-wicket partnership of 260 with Wharton from 15-1.
Wharton went on to post a fabulous career best 285 from 319 balls, including 10 sixes, on day four as Yorkshire racked up 726-7 declared. Will Luxton made 49, Jonny Bairstow 78, Tattersall 21, Hill 54 not out and Thompson 56 not out.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. James Wharton acknowledges the Headingley faithful after his superb 285.
Wharton’s innings was the fifth highest individual first-class score ever at Headingley and the joint-eighth highest in Yorkshire history.
Yorkshire declared late on in the piece, with Northamptonshire closing day four on 71-2 from 13 overs, including two wickets for Fisher.
“Wharts played his magnificent innings, and we just allowed him to go and play,” added Tattersall.
“You know, we could have gone out on that last day and tried to win the game. But everything that had gone on throughout the season, it had taken a big effort and had taken a lot out of the bowlers.
“And that hour’s bowling at the end, I thought it was a nice way to finish the season for us.
“With the lads leaving us, we wanted to be on the field together at the end and give them a bit of a send off. We wanted to give Fish a last bowl and get Dom Leech out on the field with us (as a substitute fielder).
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Matthew Fisher celebrates with new ball partner Ben Coad as he dismisses Northamptonshire’s Krish Patel in the second innings. It was Fisher’s last wicket for his home county before leaving for Surrey.
“We’ve achieved what we’ve achieved, and they’ve been a part of that and helped us get to Division One.
“We wanted to enjoy that moment and walk off the pitch together as a team, which is the way we started the season against Leicestershire at Headingley.”
