Mick Lewis praises Yorkshire CCC’s fighting spirit against the league leaders
MICK LEWIS, the Yorkshire bowling coach, was pleased with the team’s perseverance on what he described as a “tough but rewarding day” against the County Championship leaders Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.
The home side reached 298-6 from 94 overs with opener Ben Slater top-scoring with 96.
Nottinghamshire were 90-0 at lunch as Slater and Haseeb Hameed frustrated the visitors but Yorkshire hit back as George Hill and Dan Moriarty each took two wickets and Jack White and Will O’Rourke one apiece.
Lewis said that Yorkshire are well in the game and was pleased with how they kept plugging away.
“I think it was a proper day for us today,” reflected the Australian. “Losing the toss and bowling on quite a benign wicket… the Kookaburra ball went soft quite early, but really happy with the way we stuck at it.
“We controlled the rate pretty well, put enough pressure on them to get a couple of chances, and to have them six-down was a decent effort. So, all in all, a tough day but rewarding in the end.”
Lewis, who confirmed that Yorkshire would have batted had they won the toss, said the challenge now was to back it up on Monday. He acknowledged that Nottinghamshire gifted some wickets but felt that Yorkshire contributed to mistakes.
“If we can keep them under 350 we think we're doing pretty well,” he added. “They left a few runs out there and gave us a few wickets, but I think that was due to the pressure we put on with the ball.
“If we hadn’t done that, the game could have got away pretty quick, and it could have been 350 tonight.
“The ball was nipping early on, but it was quite a slow nip, and we got together at lunchtime and said, ‘Righto, we’ve got to dig in here’, and that’s what we did.”