Plenty to build on as Yorkshire fall short in title pursuit

Yorkshire will be disappointed by their near-miss in the County Championship but everyone connected with the team can be proud of a fine summer, writes Chris Waters.
Jason Gillespie, Andrew Gale and Martyn MoxonJason Gillespie, Andrew Gale and Martyn Moxon
Jason Gillespie, Andrew Gale and Martyn Moxon

A GOOD season for Yorkshire that could have been – and so nearly was – a great one.

That is how the 2013 campaign will be remembered once the dust has settled and the emotions subsided.

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Second place in the County Championship was Yorkshire’s best finish since they won the title in 2001 and a worthy way to mark the club’s 150th anniversary.

But the fairytale of first place slipped from their grasp, with Durham dancing past them with the winning line in sight.

In the final analysis, events at Scarborough in the dying days of August stopped that good season from becoming even better.

Yorkshire went into their game against Durham at North Marine Road on August 28 with a 25.5-point lead over their opponents at the top of the table.

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Although Durham had the advantage of a match in hand, there was only one month of the season remaining and it seemed that Yorkshire had the title in the bag.

But they slipped to a seven-wicket defeat that gave Durham the impetus to surge away, the north-east club winning five games on the spin.

There is perhaps no greater measure of how much times have changed in Yorkshire cricket than the fact that second place would once have been considered a failure.

When Yorkshire celebrated their 100th anniversary, for example, the title was not so much desired as demanded.

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So sharp has been the club’s fall since the Silver Sixties, however, and so barren their recent seasons especially, that second place feels – and is – a major achievement.

For the simple fact is that Yorkshire have not won a trophy since 2002, or even come as close as they have this summer, rendering success this year all the more striking.

Although Yorkshire missed out on the coveted prize, that should not mask two key points.

First, they are a very good side – well-led by captain Andrew Gale and the coaching team of Martyn Moxon and Jason Gillespie, with all having championed a positive, attacking brand of cricket that has kept members and supporters royally entertained.

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Second, there is every reason to suppose that Yorkshire can build on this season with a predominantly young squad and end a drought for silverware that is galling for a club of such size and stature.

If, at the beginning of this year, you had said to Gale, Gillespie and co that Yorkshire would finish second in the Championship, they would probably have taken that.

If you had said it to them after the opening game against Sussex at Headingley, which Yorkshire lost by an innings and 12 runs, they would most likely have bitten your hand off.

Indeed, there was a discernible mood of despond around the camp after that match, which only increased when Yorkshire began their next game poorly too, collapsing against Durham at Chester-le-Street before recovering to chase 336 on the back of Joe Root’s magnificent 182. That innings, that run-chase, was the catalyst for everything that followed as Yorkshire embarked on a run of form that seemed likely to take them all the way.

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The manner of some performances was breathtaking to behold; indeed, for much of the season, Yorkshire played like champions-elect.

Warwickshire, the holders, were hammered by 10 wickets on their own patch; Middlesex were battered by 10 wickets at Lord’s; Nottinghamshire were annihilated by the same margin at Trent Bridge; Derbyshire were twice thumped by an innings – once despite posting a first innings total of 475.

These were not just victories; they were devastating victories.

And the one at Trent Bridge, which directly preceded defeat to Durham at Scarborough, looked to have the settled the title race.

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Going into the season, the biggest question mark against Yorkshire revolved around their batting department.

Anthony McGrath had retired and there was no overseas player, and some thought they might be a batsman light.

What no one could have foreseen – at least not beyond the dressing room bubble – was how Alex Lees would step up in his first full season, how Adil Rashid would suddenly flourish once again to prove that he is a batsman who bowls rather than the other way round, how Gale would return to form after a couple of lean years, and how someone always seemed to step up to the plate for much of the campaign.

Yorkshire actually gained more batting points than any of their rivals and reached 400 in nine of their 16 first innings, including two totals of 600-plus and two more that exceeded 500. Fewer question marks surrounded the bowling department, although many wondered how new signings Jack Brooks and Liam Plunkett would fare after injury problems and loss of form respectively.

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As it turned out, they both fared well, playing their part in a four-pronged pace attack in which Ryan Sidebottom and Steve Patterson were predictably excellent. Rashid chipped in with some important wickets although was much more adept with a bat in his hand.

Overall, there were not many weaknesses in a team that played some exceedingly good cricket – and that despite the absence of England’s Root, Jonny Bairstow and Tim Bresnan for much of the campaign, plus the fact that Yorkshire negotiated much of the season without an overseas player until the late-summer arrival of New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson.

Yorkshire’s one-day form was correspondingly abject – as suspect, in fact, as their Championship form was splendid.

The club made no impression in the YB40 competition or the Twenty20 Cup and unashamedly prioritised the Championship over both, resting the likes of Sidebottom and Patterson for one-day matches and blooding youngsters left, right and centre.

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The tactic was not to everyone’s taste – not least those who fork out to watch one-day cricket only – but was eminently justified to these eyes and so nearly paid the ultimate dividend.

A good season for Yorkshire, then, who will be hoping next year turns out to be a great one.