Yorkshire sit second in the LV= Insurance County Championship Group 3 table at the end of May, having drawn to matches and lost one. Here are your NIC Player of the Month contenders…
Harry Brook
In four Championship matches, Brook posted scores of 39, 59 and 52.
The 22-year-old hit half-centuries in the only innings of the home draw against Kent at Emerald Headingley and in the second innings of the Roses defeat at Emirates Old Trafford.
Brook’s rearguard 52 against Lancashire gave Yorkshire real hope on the final day of salvaging a draw. Unfortunately it just wasn’t to be.
Steve Patterson
The hero of Yorkshire’s one-run win over Northamptonshire at the start of the month. Captain Patterson claimed the winning wicket when he had Wayne Parnell caught behind, one of five in the match.
In all, he claimed 10 wickets in four Championship matches through May, including his 400th wicket in that competition during the rainy draw at Glamorgan.
In that particular fixture, he also hit a crucial 47 not out down the order to help the White Rose recover from early trouble to claim a first-innings lead.
Joe Root
The England Test captain, like Willey, played two Championship games in May, posting scores of 41 and 99 in the rain-affected draws against Kent at Emerald Headingley and Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens.
The 99 on a tricky Cardiff batting pitch was surely one of Root’s best innings in a Yorkshire shirt, expertly navigating sideways movement and uneven bounce to help Yorkshire recover from 111-8 to post 230 – a first-innings lead of 81.
David Willey
The all-rounder’s main contribution through May came with wickets and runs in that narrow Emerald Headingley victory over Northamptonshire.
Against his former county, Willey claimed three wickets in each innings and hit an unbeaten 41 from number 10 in the second innings. Added to that, he affected the direct hit run out of dangerous Ricardo Vasconcelos at the start of the visiting chase of 235.
Willey played two of four Championship games through May, also against Glamorgan at Cardiff, taking one wicket in the first innings.
