Proper cricket - and a proper innings from Will Luxton leads Yorkshire home
SOMEWHERE between “Clicky Ponting” and SunLoungers Leeds - or whatever they're known as - the game of cricket is not what it was.
“I don't know what's going off out there,” as someone once said.
Which is why - for curmudgeons of a certain stripe - there is succour to be found in a game such as this.
"Proper cricket”, involving teams people care about in a picturesque setting, there are some things that even money can't buy.
But then those who flocked to Clifton Park on Wednesday did not need telling what they already knew.
The talk beyond the boundary was not of SunRisers Leeds’ win against Manchester Super Giants the previous night, but of the collective efficiency of the Yorkshire bowlers, the burgeoning skills of batsman Will Luxton, and ultimately a Yorkshire triumph by six wickets - their third in succession in the One-Day Cup.
Sent into bat, Worcestershire’s total of 230 always felt as though it might be perhaps 20 to 30 runs light. Led by Luxton, who followed his 117 at Sussex on Sunday with a career-best 126, another masterclass of crunching drives and free-flowing shots, it proved no problem for the hosts, who chased the target with 9.2 overs to left, Sam Whiteman finishing on 35.
After successive wins at Glamorgan and Sussex, two teams not expected to uproot trees in the tournament, which followed defeat to Hampshire in their opening game, this was more of a test for Yorkshire against a side who are the defending champions.
The hosts selected a strong XI - Jack White the only change for fellow seamer Ben Cliff in a clear indication of the serious manner in which Yorkshire are treating the competition - and they chose to bowl on a nice summer’s day: warm, sunny, and with a lively breeze that was as welcome as any of the 4,000 spectators in attendance, a terrific turnout.
Yorkshire started as they left off at Sussex, with seamer Ben Coad again to the fore. Fresh from a one-day best 5-12 at Hove, Coad began with successive wicket maidens from the City End, having Brett D’Oliveira and Gareth Roderick caught behind, his bowling arm raised in familiar celebration.
There was pace and carry in a competitive pitch, and Coad exploited it in an early burst of 2-13 from six overs. He was well-supported by George Hill, who found Jake Libby’s outside edge to give Fin Bean a third catch behind the stumps, and Jack White, who bowled Kashif Ali for a duck with a fine delivery that nipped back (53-4).
Dan Lategan, a tall and powerful 20-year-old left-hander, played solidly as Worcestershire looked to rebuild. Born in South Africa, Lategan previously worked on the catering staff at New Road and would no doubt have appreciated York’s bustling marquee, which was alive with clinking glasses and the hum of conversation as the high-heeled and well-heeled enjoyed their day out.
The opener played a couple of handsome off-drives off White early on, later launching him for the first six of the innings over long-off. He reached his half-century from 70 balls, his second in successive One-Day Cup games and the fourth of his career, a feat generously applauded.
Lategan added a steadying 74 for the fifth wicket in 18 overs with Henry Cullen before lofting Dom Bess to Hill at long-off. Having done the hard yards, it was a soft dismissal and he was not happy with himself as he trudged off, having hit 67 from 89 balls and looked primed for a big one.
Cullen - a compact 23-year-old right-hander - had achieved his maiden one-day fifty in Sunday’s narrow win over Hampshire, and he raised to bat in acknowledgment of another fifty here, made from 75 balls with five fours.
But, like Lategan, he gave it away, scooping Hill straight up to give wicketkeeper Bean another catch, departing for 70 from 88 balls to leave Worcestershire 167-6 in the 41st over.
Tom Taylor skied White to Bess at mid-off; Kuldeep Yadav bowled Bayers Swanepoel and Fateh Singh with googlies, and only a late 53 from 42 balls by Matthew Waite, the former Yorkshire all-rounder, lifted Worcestershire beyond the 200-mark.
Waite reached only his second career one-day fifty with a six over long-on off Hill, who bowled him with the final ball of the innings to finish with the best figures of 3-54.
Adam Lyth and Luxton gave Yorkshire a flying start to the chase, adding 77 inside 15 overs. Luxton had a life on nine - Cullen grassing a head-high slip chance off Swanepoel, a miss that proved costly.
Lyth was caught and bowled, then Will Bennison caught behind as Yorkshire slipped to 78-2. But James Wharton helped Luxton add 72 before Wharton drove at a wide one and was caught behind.
Luxton lofted leg-side sixes off Taylor, Swanepoel and Waite before finally holing out to mid-on. For the most part, the only way that Worcestershire looked like getting him out was if someone clicked their fingers in the slips.