By John Virr – 2nd X1 Scorer
Winning the toss on a clear and sunny morning skipper Noah Kelly asked Lancashire to have first use of a wicket with a “greenish” tinge.
Matt Milnes, having his first competitive bowl since injury, opened the attack along with Bradley Sylvester but it was the introduction of Jay Singh that brought the breakthrough having Harry Singh caught behind by Jonny Tattersall for 26 – the opening pair had added 63 in 96 deliveries.
The Lancashire Captain, George Bell came in at number 3 and he and Keshana Fonseka remained unbeaten at lunch – Lancashire 130-1, Bell 45 no and Fonseka 46 no. Bell reached 50 first from 39 balls with 10 fours then Fonseka from 98 balls with 8 fours. Their partnership had reached 147 from 156 balls when, in his 4th over, Dan Moriarty had Bell lbw for 97 from 79 balls with 17 fours.
From 210-1 Lancashire crashed to 225-7, Moriarty taking 4- 18 and Singh 3-34. However, Joe Chapple and Oliver Sutton “steadied the ship” and tea was reached without further loss at 297-7. After tea we had a stoppage of 30 minutes due to a heavy shower but Chapple and Sutton extended their partnership to 126 before the former was lbw to Jawad Akhtar for 67 made from 98 balls with 2 fours and 4 maximums.
Sutton had reached his half century from 75 balls with 8 fours and he remained not out at the close on 73 and Lancashire had totaled 402-9.
Dan Moriarty ended the day with 4-61 from 24 overs, Matt Milnes got 10 overs in the tank and probably the pick of the bunch was Jay Singh with 3-48 from 14 overs.
Day 2
Lancashire resumed at 402-9 and added only 10 more before the final wicket fell – an excellent catch by Brad Sylvester to give Dan Moriarty his 5th wicket.
Noah Kelly and Jonny Tattersall opened the innings and added 50 before Tattersall was caught behind for 16 from 47 balls. Will Luxton batted at 3 and he and Kelly advanced the total to 72 before the latter chopped on from Will Williams having made 36 from 86 balls with 5 fours. Luxton looked increasingly at ease and reached his half century from 65 balls with 10 fours and he and Harry Duke added 101 before Will was caught behind for 74 from 93 balls with a total of 12 fours.
At tea Yorkshire were 200-3, Harry Duke unbeaten on 48 from 93 balls with 4 fours. Duke posted his half century immediately after the restart and he and Jawad Akhtar extended their partnership to 84 before Duke was caught at backward point for 88 made from 132 balls.
Matt Milnes joined Akhtar and they took the total to 279 before the new ball was taken. Milnes made 31 from 44 but was caught behind off Sutton, a few balls later Akhtar was also caught at the wicket off Will Williams for 29 and in the last over of the day Charlie Taylor was bowled by Sutton and Yorkshire closed on 303-7 trailing by 109 runs.
Day 3
Yorkshire’s last 3 wickets fell in the space of 6 overs for the addition of only 15 runs being all out for 318 – Williams finishing with 4-40 from 23 overs.
Singh and Maisuria opened the innings and added 27 before Matt Milnes had Singh lbw for 14 from 25 balls but George Bell and Maisuria reached lunch at 74 without further loss – a lead of 168. After lunch the two batters took their partnership to 107 from 154 balls before Maisuria was bowled by Matt Milnes – he had made 56 from 112 balls with 10 fours.
He was replaced by Reddy who departed first ball, lbw to Milnes. Harris survived the hat trick ball but was caught behind by Harry Duke for 8 from 16 balls to give Charlie Taylor his first wicket. Taylor added to his wickets when he induced George Bell into “chopping on” after he had made 51 from 81 balls with 7 fours. Lancashire had gone from 134-1 to 156-5.
Oliver Sutton was the next to go taken at slip by Jonny Tattersall from the bowling of Mike Finan. Will Williams made 36 from 52 balls before being lbw to Jafer Chohan (194-7) and tea was reached at 212 without further loss.
Within 4 overs of the re-start it was 222-9: Chapple caught behind off Taylor for 16 and Taylor collected his fourth when Will Luxton held on at 2nd slip to dismiss Hussain without scoring. However a last wicket partnership of 51 between Childs and Stanley saw them to 273, a lead of 367.
Ten overs remained and Kelly and Tattersall negotiated them safely to finish on 36 without loss. An interesting final day awaits with a further 332 runs required.
Day 4
Yorkshire started the last day 36 without loss needing a further 332 for victory. The session started with 7 of the first 11 overs being maidens. Kelly and Tattersall took their partnership to 84 before Kelly was caught in the gully by Stanley off the bowling of Miller Childs – he made 31 from 89 deliveries with 6 fours.
Shortly after this Tattersall completed his half century from 90 balls with 9 fours and he and Will Luxton remained unbeaten at lunch – 152-1 needing a further 216 runs for victory. Tattersall 84 no from 124 balls with 15 fours and Luxton 31 no from 33 balls with 2 fours and a six.
Following the resumption Tattersall completed his 2nd century of the season from 135 balls with 18 fours but was caught behind a few balls later for 101 – he and Luxton having added 92. Luxton was out for 40 from 49 balls stumped and Jawad Akhtar caught at mid off for 5 and from 176-1 we were 208-4.
Harry Duke and Matt Milnes “steadied the ship” helped by 5 penalty runs for the ball hitting the fielding sides helmet. Duke reached his second half century of the match from 57 balls but was bowled by one that appeared to keep low from the last ball before tea therefore at tea 286-5: Duke made 67 from 79 and Milnes was not out on 38 from 59.
Jafer Chohan made 12 before being lbw and Milnes completed his half century from 80 balls with 6 fours. Charlie Taylor joined Milnes and they added 50 in 62 balls to put us on the brink of victory however Taylor was caught at 2nd slip for 28 and it was left to Ed Burch to hit the winning run as Yorkshire posted their 2nd win of the season. Milnes finished 70 not out from 105 balls.
Yorkshire travel to Northern CC to play the same opponents in a 3 day friendly starting on Tuesday 29th April.
