Yorkshire at 150: Lord’s hurt drives on McGrath

WHEN Anthony McGrath walked to the crease in the 2002 Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy final, Yorkshire’s hopes were hanging by a thread.

Yorkshire were 157-4 needing another 100 runs to beat Somerset and the West Country side were sensing the kill.

The White Rose county had lost Craig White, Matthew Wood and pinch-hitter Chris Silverwood to pace bowler Richard Johnson, falling to 64-3 in reply to their opponents’ 256-8.

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And when Michael Vaughan went lbw to Steffan Jones, it seemed Yorkshire were wilting in the St John’s Wood sunshine.

Enter McGrath.

The 26-year-old all-rounder came out to join Australian left-hander Matthew Elliott with the Somerset fielders chirping in his ear.

The situation called for an ice-cool head and an unflappable temperament.

McGrath rose to the challenge in typical style.

“Vaughany had got out and they were just starting to get on top of us,” recalled McGrath, who turned 37 last October. “My role really was just to rotate the strike and to give Matthew as much of it as I possibly could.

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“When I came to the wicket, Somerset were quite boisterous, but, once myself and Matthew had put on 40 or 50 or so, we seemed to really grow in confidence.

“We could just sense that Somerset were slipping away, and luckily we were able to take the team home.”

McGrath scored an unbeaten 46 from 53 balls with four fours and Elliott an undefeated 128 from 125 deliveries with 16 fours.

The pair added 103 for the fifth wicket as Yorkshire clinched their first one-day trophy since the 1987 Benson and Hedges Cup.

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It was the memory of another final, however, which motivated McGrath and many of his colleagues in 2002.

In 1999, Yorkshire had lost the Benson and Hedges Super Cup to Gloucestershire by 124 runs, and the pain of that defeat still lingered with the players.

“We’d had a complete nightmare against Gloucestershire,” said McGrath, who made his Yorkshire debut in 1995. “We were comprehensively outplayed and comfortably beaten. It was the memory of that match, and wanting to put up a better fight, which really spurred us on.

“We didn’t want to come home empty-handed for a second time.”

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Although McGrath played a big role in ensuring that did not happen, after Matthew Hoggard had taken 5-65 in the Somerset innings, he is quick to praise the contribution of man-of-the-match Elliott.

Elliott was standing in for club captain Darren Lehmann, who was unavailable for part of that summer, and, like the ever-popular Lehmann, he had a significant influence on-and-off the field.

“Matthew was a really good character,” said McGrath. “Like most Australians, he was very confident and very good with people off the field. He also liked the big stage and playing in front of a sizeable crowd. It was his type of game, his type of final.”

McGrath was a man on a mission in 2002.

In the quarter-final against Essex at Chelmsford, he top-scored with an unbeaten 72 to take the side to a dramatic victory. After Essex scored 283-9 from their 50 overs, with current England team director Andy Flower leading the way with 75, Yorkshire were in trouble at 155-5.

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But McGrath added an unbroken 128 with Gary Fellows (68) to lift Yorkshire to 283-5 and they won by fewer wickets lost.

Yorkshire played five games in the 2002 tournament, winning their opening match against Devon at Exmouth by 143 runs. They followed up with a 49-run victory over Northamptonshire at Wantage Road before dispatching Essex in the last eight, the prelude to a crushing 10-wicket win against Surrey in the semi-final.

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