Ben Coad takes 300th first-class wicket as Yorkshire CCC edges closer to promotion

WHOEVER decided that it would be a good idea to play County Championship cricket in the last week before October should rightly be sent to the nearest padded cell.

There is clearly something wrong in the brains department somewhere, not to mention with a schedule so daft it makes a brush look clever.

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Not that Yorkshire are likely to be filing a letter of complaint to the England and Wales Cricket Board any time soon.

The loss of the first day’s play at Headingley, allied to 64 overs on day two, along with the first two days of Sussex’s match against Middlesex at Hove, has rendered any faint chance of Yorkshire failing to clinch promotion fainter still, the issue all over bar the shouting that is likely to be heard coming from the Yorkshire dressing room – in celebratory form – at some stage on Sunday.

Ben Coad celebrates his 300th first-class wicket after dismissing Northamptonshire's Saif Zaib. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.comBen Coad celebrates his 300th first-class wicket after dismissing Northamptonshire's Saif Zaib. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com
Ben Coad celebrates his 300th first-class wicket after dismissing Northamptonshire's Saif Zaib. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com

In truth, the bad weather from Headingley to Hove and all points between has only enhanced the anticlimactic feel to the Championship season.

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It is one in which the only real issue to be decided is who will be relegated from Division One, with either Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire or Lancashire set to join Kent, with Surrey already confirmed as Championship winners and with Sussex needing just a maximum of four points to secure the Division Two title.

Yorkshire will join them in Division One if they obtain a maximum of 10 points from this match, a figure that already seems far more than they will actually require, if they will even require any more points at all.

It is time to start the car, put the champagne on ice, book the holiday to Timbuktu and so on; Yorkshire are back in the top-flight once more in everything but name.

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Matty Fisher bowls on his last appearance for Yorkshire. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.comMatty Fisher bowls on his last appearance for Yorkshire. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com
Matty Fisher bowls on his last appearance for Yorkshire. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com

Not even the most ardent Yorkshire fan would like the season to end on a completely damp note, though, certainly not the couple of hundred or so diehards who turned up on Friday in the hope of some cricket.

After much waiting around and twiddling of thumbs, with morning rain - and indeed rainbows - followed by three pitch inspections, play finally got going at 3.30pm after the tea interval, the watery sunshine present throughout much of that waiting around having by then given way to overcast skies.

In the 40 overs possible, Yorkshire, after winning the toss and unsurprisingly choosing to bowl first, given that six wickets and a draw would be enough to ensure promotion, reduced Northamptonshire to 117-6.

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Ben Coad took three of the wickets to pass 300 at first-class level, the 30-year-old having played such a key role in the push for promotion.

A soft sun pokes through at a saturated Headingley, where more time was lost to the elements on day two. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.comA soft sun pokes through at a saturated Headingley, where more time was lost to the elements on day two. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com
A soft sun pokes through at a saturated Headingley, where more time was lost to the elements on day two. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com

After George Hill, the Yorkshire all-rounder, was presented with his cap by Jonny Bairstow in front of the pavilion to warm applause, the ceremony having initially been performed the previous day in front of Hill’s family in the Hawke Suite, Yorkshire took to the field with a spring in their step.

For the last time, Coad and Matty Fisher are taking the new ball for Yorkshire, with Fisher playing his final game before leaving for Surrey.

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After Coad began with a maiden from the Kirkstall Lane end, and Fisher conceded a single from his first over from The Howard Stand end, Coad struck with the fifth delivery of the third over, Gus Miller edging a ball arrowed into the corridor of uncertainty to Hill at first slip.

Coad’s 299th first-class wicket was followed, late in the day, by his 300th, Saif Zaib edging another into the hands of Hill at first slip, and then his 301st when Fateh Singh drove to James Wharton at short mid-off; what a bowler Coad is, those wickets costing just 19.42.

Richard Robinson, the Yorkshire head groundsman, pictured in conversation with club chair Colin Graves during the long wait for play to get under way on day two. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com - 27/09/2024Richard Robinson, the Yorkshire head groundsman, pictured in conversation with club chair Colin Graves during the long wait for play to get under way on day two. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com - 27/09/2024
Richard Robinson, the Yorkshire head groundsman, pictured in conversation with club chair Colin Graves during the long wait for play to get under way on day two. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com - 27/09/2024

The pitch for this match is a long way over towards the West Stand, as though it has been drawn in one of the outside lanes in an athletics event, and the short boundary seemed very much to the liking of Krish Patel, a Surrey-born 18-year-old on first-class debut.

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The Northamptonshire No 3, compact and wristy, whipped Coad off his pads towards the deserted blue seats, and then square-drove and cover-drove boundaries off Fisher in the same direction. He had made his way attractively to 26 when he pushed at a ball from Jordan Thompson that was comfortably caught at second slip by Adam Lyth, the Yorkshire slip fielding as reliable as ever. Certainly, there looks to be something to work with there from a Northamptonshire perspective, signs that they might just have found a good ‘un in young Patel.

Yorkshire, who showed one change to the side that beat Glamorgan in Cardiff last week, with batsman Will Luxton returning in place of spinner Dan Moriarty, huffed and puffed as the grey cloud alternated with watery sunshine and even brief flurries of rain, although not quite enough to force the teams off the field.

Hill celebrated the award of his cap by capturing the third wicket, with his fifth ball from The Howard Stand end, Luke Procter chopping on to end a determined innings of 25 fashioned in an hour-and-a-half, a wicket that gave Yorkshire their first bonus point.

Hill struck again when James Sales left a booming in-swinger, a fine delivery that bowled him neck and crop, before Coad’s 300th ushered promotion a step nearer.

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