Jonny Bairstow and George Hill go big for Yorkshire CCC as bowlers toil

“IS Jonny still in?” said a steward on the gate as he gave “pass out” tickets to spectators at lunch.
Jonny Bairstow responded to England's challenge to find his best form. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.comJonny Bairstow responded to England's challenge to find his best form. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com
Jonny Bairstow responded to England's challenge to find his best form. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com

“No, he's just out, unfortunately,” a woman replied, making her way towards the busy Kirkstall Lane.

“Excellent morning, though,” she said. “Just the one wicket.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Bairstow’s 160 – having added 53 to his overnight score – was an empathic response to the question posed by Luke Wright, the England selector, who had asked on leaving him out of the white-ball squads to face Australia “can we get you back to where you were pre-injury?”

George Hill is applauded off at lunch after reaching his century. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.comGeorge Hill is applauded off at lunch after reaching his century. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com
George Hill is applauded off at lunch after reaching his century. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com

Er, yep, next question, Bairstow’s performance seemed to imply, his highest score for Yorkshire for over seven years underpinning their 601-6 declared before Middlesex reached 141-1 at stumps on day two, conditions still heavily favouring the batsmen.

Bairstow’s only higher score in the interim was his 162 in the Headingley Test of 2022 against New Zealand, the first series of Bazball, before he suffered a career-threatening leg injury later that year.

According to Wright, the Yorkshireman was “hugely disappointed” by his latest omission, which was presumably a bit like saying that Jimmy Greaves was a bit hacked off to be left out of the 1966 World Cup final, but Bairstow can do no more than what he did here.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

If the main focus of attention was naturally on Bairstow, in the grander scheme of things at least, he was by no means a one-man band from a Yorkshire perspective.

It was a glorious day at Headingley as Yorkshire faced Middlesex. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.comIt was a glorious day at Headingley as Yorkshire faced Middlesex. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com
It was a glorious day at Headingley as Yorkshire faced Middlesex. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com

On the contrary, his 160 was not even the highest score of the innings – Yorkshire’s biggest first-class total for 10 years – with that honour going to George Hill, who struck a career-best 169 not out and shared with Bairstow in a sixth-wicket stand of 238, a Yorkshire record against Middlesex.

While Messrs Wilfred Rhodes and Maurice Leyland licked their wounds in the great pavilion in the sky, their partnership of 190 at Bradford in 1923 knocked off its perch, Hill made his fourth first-class hundred having started the day with 58 to his name.

In eclipsing his previous best of 151 against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road in 2022, he faced 257 balls and hit 16 fours to go with two sixes before the declaration came just before 3pm, at which point he was serenaded back to the pavilion by a standing ovation.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Hill has not been happy with his batting this year – earlier this month he publicly described it as having been “a bit t*ts up” and that head coach Ottis Gibson had “probably played me more games than he should have done”.

Prior to this innings, he was averaging 21 in this season’s Championship, but this was a timely reminder of his quality, with some of his driving down the ground especially memorable.

Hill, 23, also said that the players wanted to give Gibson, who is leaving at the end of the season, “the best possible send-off”, a cause to which his own innings clearly did no harm.

He was lucky to survive a stumping on 64 when advancing to Luke Hollman, the leg-spinner who toiled manfully in the warm sunshine for figures of 4-194 from 47 overs, but it was a high-class display to match the glorious weather, a treat indeed for another good-sized crowd that might have thought it could safely have packed away its shirt-sleeves and sun cream for another year.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

After reaching his 11th score of 150 or more in first-class cricket, as Yorkshire achieved four of the five batting points available, Bairstow’s dismissal came out of the blue.

He was bowled by Hollman as he went back to pull, his innings comprising 198 balls and containing 14 fours and two sixes.

There was no let-up in the agony for Middlesex, for whom the Kookaburra ball again did little, while the hybrid pitch is evidently a tad more durable than the one down in Bristol, where the match between Gloucestershire and Northamptonshire was abandoned on Thursday due to dangerous conditions.

Hill found another strong ally in Dom Bess, who continued his fine batting form lately with an unbeaten 60, accrued from 69 balls with seven fours and a six, sharing 121 with Hill before Jonny Tattersall called them in.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Tattersall took the gloves for the Middlesex second innings, which followed the pattern of bat bossing ball.

Sam Robson and Mark Stoneman added 61 for the first wicket in untroubled fashion before Bess located Stoneman’s outside edge, Adam Lyth doing the rest at slip.

It was nearly two in two for the same combination, but Max Holden edged his first delivery just short of the fielder.

Bess and fellow spinners Dan Moriarty and Lyth plugged away diligently, but Robson (65) and Holden (39) held firm to the close.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Still 460 runs ahead, Yorkshire will hope that scoreboard pressure can yet play a part as they strive for a fourth successive victory – an aspiration hardly assisted by an England and Wales Cricket Board which seems more interested in experimenting with the County Championship, with its balls and regulations, reducing the number of games and shoving it into the margins of the season to make room for “Meerkat Match Heroes” and a format of the sport in which “every ball counts” – as if.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.

News you can trust since 1754
Follow us
©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice