Ben Cliff inspires Yorkshire CCC to victory in One-Day Cup opener
SO long is it since Yorkshire last won a one-day trophy that two members of the team that took on Warwickshire at Scarborough on Tuesday were not even born.
Two others were less than a year old, two were a year old, another was three, another five and another six. Only Adam Lyth (14) and Jack White (10) could conceivably have memories of the match in question - Yorkshire versus Somerset at Lord’s in the 2002 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy.
However, as White grew up in the Lake District and went on to play for Northamptonshire before only arriving in Yorkshire last winter, it is doubtful whether they would have stuck in his mind had the family television been tuned to the cricket that day rather than Tweenies or Postman Pat – other programmes for 10-year-olds were no doubt available.
It was pace bowler Ben Cliff, one of the two unborn players at the time along with batsman Will Luxton, who set Yorkshire on the road to what they hope will finally end this dismal drought. The 22-year-old, making his first first-team appearance since the opening match of the season, when he injured his side in the County Championship defeat to Hampshire in Southampton, captured his maiden first-team five-fer - 5-46 from 8.3 overs as Warwickshire were bowled out for 137 in 36.3 overs after being sent into bat.
It could have been much worse for the visitors, who were 38-7 and then 73-9 before a stand of 64 between Vansh Jani, a 20-year-old on one-day debut, and Oliver Hannon-Dalby, the former Yorkshire pace bowler, a record for the 10th wicket for Warwickshire in one-day matches.
Jani hit 82 from 92 balls with five sixes and six fours, his lone hand accounting for 60 per cent of his side’s runs with Alex Davies’s 15 the next highest score.
Although batting conditions were never straightforward, with the pitch offering bounce that Yorkshire exploited well, the target was too paltry to seriously inconvenience the hosts before a crowd of 3,634 who watched in pleasant sunshine.
They duly won by five wickets with 17.1 overs remaining, Imam-ul-Haq top-scoring with a composed 55, the Pakistani facing 83 balls and striking nine fours.
On a windswept day at North Marine Road – so much so that pages of The Yorkshire Post could be seen blowing across the outfield at one point (one always knew that one’s words carried precious little weight), and Dom Bess, the Yorkshire captain, nobly retrieved a spectator’s cap that had flown off – Cliff struck with his second and fifth balls from the Trafalgar Square end in the game’s second over.
James Wharton was the catcher on both occasions at cover, first taking the left-handed Rob Yates off a leading edge as he tried to work to leg, and then the right-handed Zen Malik from a mis-timed drive.
White provided outstanding support from the other end, producing the ball of the day to strike the top of Ed Barnard’s off stump before Cliff had Hamza Shaikh flashing to Adam Lyth at second slip, moving smartly to his left.
When Cliff then had Kai Smith caught by Luxton at point, perhaps surprised by the bounce, Warwickshire were 24-5 in the 10th over and some way short of their lowest List A score - 59 against Yorkshire at Headingley in 2001.
They avoided that ignominy but not before they had flirted with it heavily at 38-7, Matty Revis striking with his first and third deliveries after replacing Cliff. First, Alex Davies pushed forward with no control and was caught by Lyth, the solitary slip; then Jake Lintott gave Lyth another slip catch, this time at second, as he tried to defend off the back foot.
When Lyth held another opportunity at solitary slip as Michael Booth pushed forward at George Hill, the opener had his fourth catch of the innings - equalling the record for Yorkshire in one-day matches by Colin Johnson against Northamptonshire at Huddersfield in 1974.
Ethan Bamber charged Hill and picked out Revis at mid-off, at which point Warwickshire were 73-9 and the innings looked done, but Jani had other ideas and batted very well, twice lofting Revis for six over long-on and once over cover, as well as striking Hill for a straight six and scooping White for a maximum.
A product of the South Asian Cricket Academy (SACA), Jani deserved a century but was undone by Cliff, who switched to the Peasholm Park end to have him caught by Bess at deep mid-wicket after the same man had dropped him at deep mid-on on 73 off Revis, not the easiest chance in the swirling wind.
The only way Warwickshire were going to retrieve the position was to take wickets. They got Lyth early, caught behind trying to cover drive Hannon-Dalby, and Luxton fell on 47 when he slapped Ethan Bamber to cover.
Yorkshire lost two in two balls on 74 when Wharton was caught behind off an inside edge off Booth, who then had Revis edging to second. Imam and Hill added 56 before the former pulled to backward square-leg, 10 runs from home.