Let’s play blockbusters as Yorkshire CCC and Middlesex gear up for key clash

Only three points separates Yorkshire, in third, from second-placed Middlesex, themselves just six behind leaders Sussex with four rounds left.

The table is tighter than the belt of a cricket correspondent after months of eating junk food on the road, with the top-three effectively vying for two places - although there are still one or two below who are technically not out of it.

“Can I have a P please, Bob?”

Of course you can, Malcolm, but perhaps best to wait until Jonny Bairstow has finished batting, with the Yorkshireman set to make his second successive appearance.

Having been left out of England’s white-ball squads for the forthcoming internationals against Australia, it remains to be seen whether Bairstow will play in the final three Championship games too.

His presence will be a clear boost, with one of his best innings in a Yorkshire shirt - in this view at least - an unbeaten 125 when he last faced Middlesex in the Championship at Headingley in 2015, which helped to set up a four-wicket win in a low-scoring match in the year when Yorkshire last won the title. There were some epic duels between the teams around that time - not least the following year, when Middlesex won the title decider at Lord’s.

Bairstow scored a half-century in the win over Sussex at Scarborough last week and kept wicket with his usual energy and elan. Certainly it would be no surprise if his omission from those white-ball squads served as extra motivation.

That win over Sussex was significant - most obviously as it closed the gap at the top and left Yorkshire threateningly placed, but also because it was a win against what might be termed quality opposition.

Prior to that, five of the six Championship wins obtained since the old regime fell in 2021 had come against either Derbyshire or Gloucestershire - proud shires, both, but perhaps not, with all due respect, the yardstick for a club of Yorkshire’s expectation.

The cliche that “there are no easy games at this level”, or indeed any level, is a cliche for a reason, but the Sussex result felt different, with plenty on the line, and with Yorkshire superior when it really counted.

Not that it was a performance without room for improvement.

Indeed, “put yourself on the Hot Spot, please” - as Bob Holness used to say - the Yorkshire batsmen, with head coach Ottis Gibson demanding more ruthlessness from them in the season’s closing weeks.

Asked what improvements could be made after Sussex, Gibson said: “We did well across the game, but for batsmen to convert starts into big scores is something I want to see.

“You look around the country, and there are still people getting hundreds and double hundreds. I think some of our players had opportunities to get hundreds in that game, so that’s something we can improve.

“At the end of the day, hundreds help you win Championships.”

Matty Fisher is not quite fit after an ankle injury - “getting closer”, said Gibson - while spinner Dom Bess returns to the squad.

All eyes will be on the Headingley pitch and whether it can provide a Scarborough-esque balance between bat and ball.

“It’s been difficult winning games at Headingley,” said Gibson. “We played against Glamorgan on a worn pitch and we still couldn't force a win, so it’s been difficult.

“But, at the business end of the tournament now, and with the way we’re playing, we’re confident we can win on any surface.”

Meanwhile, Gibson’s assistant, Ali Maiden, is to leave the club at the end of the season.

The 41-year-old, who joined Yorkshire ahead of the 2022 campaign, has been appointed head coach of Bears Women.

It marks a return to the West Midlands for the Dudley-born Maiden, who was part of Mark Robinson’s backroom team when England won the 2017 women’s World Cup.

Maiden was in the running for the head coach’s role with the Yorkshire Women, which went to Rich Pyrah, and he recently worked as assistant coach for winners London Spirit at the women’s Hundred.

Colin Graves, the Yorkshire chair, said: “Everyone at the club wishes Ali all the best in his future career and thanks him for his contribution to Yorkshire CCC over the last three seasons.”

Yorkshire squad: Bean, Lyth, Tattersall (captain), Wharton, Bairstow, Hill, Revis, Bess, Coad, Moriarty, Cliff, Luxton, Thompson.