Encouraging signs for Yorkshire CCC despite opening round defeat
“I DON’T like to say there are a lot of positives to take when you lose because ultimately we’ve lost the game, but if we cut out a few mistakes, bat better like we did in the second innings … I think it’s shown to everyone in the dressing room that we can compete and there’s some good signs going forward.”
So said Anthony McGrath, the Yorkshire head coach, after his side’s five-wicket defeat to Hampshire in Southampton.
It summed up the situation in a nutshell - a disappointing start to the season, yes, but some good things to build on.
The old saying that you cannot win a game in a few hours but you can certainly lose one in that period applied to Yorkshire’s performance.
Not long after lunch on day one they were out in the field having been bowled out for 121 in their first innings after winning the toss, slipping from 96-4 at one point and losing their last five wickets for 11 runs.
Not too many matches are won from that position and on their return to the County Championship’s top-flight, so it proved against the club that finished runners-up to Surrey last season.
Hampshire responded with 249 to take a first-innings lead of 128 and, after Yorkshire rallied to score 275 in their second innings, knocked off a 148-run target with a day and a bit to spare.
As McGrath reflected: “The first two sessions of the game we were poor and gave a lot of wickets away, which sometimes can happen. 120 in any game – you’re always going to be struggling.
“But, to be fair, from those two sessions we were in every session after that and pretty much won all of them.
“To give ourselves 150 to defend was always going to be tough, especially with the bowler down as well (Ben Cliff had a side injury), but outstanding from everyone.”
The batting, collectively, did not do itself justice in the Yorkshire first innings.
Every member of the top-six reached double figures but Dawid Malan’s 31 was the highest score; a couple of the young players, for once, had something of an off-game overall.
Several wickets were gifted to a strong attack, which did not need to work as hard as it might have expected.
Liam Dawson polished off the innings with 3-8 in 4.4 overs, the evergreen Kyle Abbott returning 3-42.
The encouraging signs really began after Hampshire had reached a menacing 70-0 in reply.
A huge, perhaps even embarrassing defeat had looked on the cards at that stage but good bowling from George Hill and Jack White, especially, who each took three wickets, allied to some steady stuff from off-spinner Dom Bess, kept the final total of 249 to within manageable levels.
Yorkshire worked hard to stem the runs by bowling straight lines, with Hill conceding less than two runs an over.
White had a very promising debut in Yorkshire colours, the close season acquisition from Northamptonshire proving his worth.
One man who has been proving his worth for the best part of two decades is Adam Lyth, the 37-year-old opener.
Like a fine wine … well, you know the cliche.
Lyth’s 106 in the second innings, made from 275 balls in five minutes short of seven hours, ensured that Yorkshire at least had something to bowl at, with new captain Jonny Bairstow chipping in with a half-century too.
It was much better from Yorkshire, their fighting spirit to the fore. The likelihood was always that they were going to lose but at least they scrapped to the end.
On another day, they might even have sneaked something.
Three dropped catches did nothing to help their cause, and there were one or two close shaves as Hampshire pursued their nuisance target.
Bess led the way with 3-52, and the margin of defeat could certainly have been worse.
“The word is frustration because I think we created eight or nine chances (to take wickets) and it could have been a lot different,” added McGrath.
However, he saw plenty to like – not least from Lyth, who reined himself in with Boycottian resolve.
“He’s obviously a very experienced, top player, but it was probably the sort of hundred that he doesn’t normally play,” said McGrath. “That’s with the greatest deal of respect for him.
“The way he dug in, took the sting out of the situation, particularly after we lost two early wickets, was impressive. Him and ‘Bluey’ (Bairstow) got us back in the game.
“And for him (Lyth) to manage the tail like he did, it was probably up there with one of his best hundreds.”
Attention now turns to the first home match of the season against Worcestershire on Friday.
Despite their opening round defeat, Yorkshire will be confident.
One swallow, as they say, does not make a summer.