Lees savours his maiden century on Lord’s stage

Not only do the 20-year-old’s initials span the full range of the alphabet but his technique spans the full range of shots, a fact he demonstrated at Lord’s yesterday en route to his maiden Championship century for Yorkshire.

Lees’s unbeaten 100, in only his third Championship appearance, underpinned a total of 215-2 from 77 overs on an opening day hit by five rain delays.

It was a performance that showed why no less a judge than Geoffrey Boycott has tipped him as a future England star, and one that suggested the Halifax-born left-hander has the ability to make a name for himself for more reasons than simply the scope of his forenames.

Lees, who has come up through the Yorkshire Academy, is a strapping fellow who would not look out of place in the world of rugby.

You could imagine him in the thick of an uncompromising scrum; he is the sort of chap you would want on your side in a midwinter mudbath when the going gets tough and the tough get stuck in.

For a big unit, however, and one as a fit as a butcher’s dog, Lees has plenty of style and grace.

He treated the crowd to some delightful off-drives, strokes that helped put his side into a strong position after captain Andrew Gale – who scored an undefeated 61 and with whom he shared an unbroken stand of 145 – won the toss.

“As a boy, you dream of scoring your first Championship century and there’s no better place to do it than at the home of cricket,” said a delighted Lees, who faced 222 balls and struck 11 fours.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever been to Lord’s; I was in the squad a couple of years ago for a one-day game here but Joe Root came back to play and I returned to the second team.

“I was a little bit nervous as my hundred approached, which is probably only human, but it helped to have the captain with me at the other end to guide me through.

“I’m really happy and hopefully I can continue on the second day because there’s still a lot of hard work to be done.”

After scores of 6, 4 and 2 in his first three Championship innings, there was a certain amount of pressure on Lees, who reached three-figures in the day’s penultimate over with a sweep to the Grandstand boundary off Ollie Rayner.

He has been preferred as Adam Lyth’s opening partner to Joe Sayers, who returned to the side at 
No 5 only because Gary Ballance has a virus, and he more than justified the faith of the coaching staff.

On a grey and gloomy London day, with the grand old ground buried beneath a blanket of cloud, Lees starred as Yorkshire undertook their first day of Championship cricket at Lord’s since 1998 – so long ago that Mike Gatting marked it with the last of his 94 first-class hundreds.

Yorkshire, in fact, have not won a Championship game against Middlesex since 1987 – so long ago that a certain Mark Ramprakash was making his first-class debut.

Bearing in mind the overhead conditions, Gale took something of a calculated risk to choose to bat, and he got his tactics absolutely right. The pitch – bare coloured and with just the faintest tinge of grass – was true and of equable bounce, and although batting could never be described as easy, Yorkshire, for the most part, made it look so.

The visitors made a watchful start against some probing new ball bowling from Tim Murtagh and Corey Collymore, who made the ball seam around.

It took Middlesex until the 13th over to make the breakthrough, Lyth caught low at first slip by Neil Dexter off Murtagh, Yorkshire going into lunch on 52-1 after a morning interrupted by a 35-minute rain delay.

The visitors fell to 70-2 in the fourth over after the break when Phil Jaques, having done the hard graft to get to 20, was undone by a fine delivery from Gareth Berg which slanted down the slope and kissed the outside edge.

Barely had Jaques unbuckled his pads than rain caused another stoppage and the loss of six overs, swiftly followed by another delay that shaved a further eight overs off the day’s allocation.

By this time, Middlesex had lost the services of James Harris, the pace bowler who chose to sign for them ahead of Yorkshire during the winter, due to a side strain that nevertheless did not prevent him fielding.

Two further stoppages upset the rhythm of Lees and Gale but they kept their concentration admirably to deal with everything the home side could throw at them.

Gale, fresh from a career-best 272 against Nottinghamshire at Scarborough, was a model of confidence and composure and the perfect foil for Lees, who will not forget his first visit to headquarters in a hurry.

Scoreboard: Page 22.

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