Yorkshire CCC promoted: James Wharton lights up the last day of the season with epic knock

As Wharton climbed the list for the highest individual scores in Yorkshire’s history, as the match against Northamptonshire wended to a draw, Lehmann’s record for the highest innings at Headingley (339), and Hirst’s for the highest for Yorkshire (341), came under serious threat from the 23-year-old right-hander.

In the end, Wharton had to settle for a “mere” 285, the fifth-highest score at the ground - behind Lehmann, Don Bradman (334 and 304) and John Edrich (310) - and the joint eighth-highest for the club.

It was the highest score for Yorkshire for 11 years, indeed, since Alex Lees’s 275 not out against Derbyshire at Chesterfield, and, according to statistical spies, the highest for Yorkshire by an uncapped player since that same Lees’ effort.

Individual records?

Wharton does not strike one as the sort of player who would dwell for too long on the various what-ifs; on this evidence, he may get further opportunities to go higher anyway.

Suffice to say that his was a sensational performance, one that spanned 319 balls and contained 32 fours and 10 sixes, out of a total of 726-7 declared, the second-highest in Yorkshire’s first-class history behind the famous (or infamous) 887 against Warwickshire at Edgbaston in 1896.

Quite why Yorkshire did not declare earlier and at least make some attempt to try and win the match was perhaps best explained by the fact that they had clinched promotion the previous night; it was a strange end to the season to say the least, especially given that they had outlined their intention to sign off with a win.

Wharton has, in this assessment, been the biggest positive of the promotion-winning season.

One can hardly say he was the “find” of the season - after all, he had already been found - nor, indeed, was he the player of the season (Ben Coad and Adam Lyth can fight that out among themselves).

But in terms of positives for the future, of the emergence of someone who can prosper in the Yorkshire top-four for years to come, Wharton has provided the most cause for optimism.

Along with Fin Bean, who broke through last year, and the continued excellence of Lyth, there is a solidity to the batting by no means entirely reliant on its England stardust - Joe Root, Harry Brook and Jonny Bairstow, the latter having played his full part recently.

Bairstow it was who helped Wharton up towards rarefied territory after the youngster resumed on 162 out of the overnight total of 371-2, a first innings lead of 224.

After the early departure of Will Luxton, bowled by Jack White for a splendid 49 on a grey and chilly morning with the floodlights on, Bairstow was the perfect foil as the pair rattled along in the run-up to lunch.

The highest compliment that one could pay Wharton was that his ball-striking lost nothing by comparison to the man at the other end, with Bairstow almost batting with a mirror image of himself in terms of brutal attacking power.

Wharton, indeed, must be a nightmare to bowl to - tall, imposing, and with a Kevin Pietersen-esque reach; he pulled and drove sixes with aplomb, as did his partner.

On reaching his double century, after his only previous first-class hundred had fallen just short of that mark when he made 188 against Derbyshire at Chesterfield earlier this season, Wharton needed only 17 balls for his fifth fifty, which included five fours and four sixes.

At lunch, he had 268 out of 559-3 and, when Yorkshire batted on, it was obvious that the chance to go past Lehmann and Hirst was now a possibility.

But he holed out on the long-on boundary when rocking on to the back foot to launch the spinner Fatet Singh up towards The Howard Stand.

A standing ovation accompanied every step back to the pavilion, the few hundred or so spectators making themselves heard.

Bairstow was bowled for 78 a short time later, having shared 194 for the fourth-wicket with Wharton, as was Jonny Tattersall when he chopped on.

After Dom Bess was pinned lbw by Singh, George Hill (54) and Jordan Thompson (56) added an unbroken 80 before the declaration finally came at tea.

In the 21 overs that remained, Northamptonshire advanced to 71-2, Matty Fisher marking his final appearance with the wickets of Gus Miller, caught pulling at deep mid-wicket, and Krish Patel, caught behind.

Fisher is joining a side in Surrey who are going places; perhaps he is leaving one behind who are going places too.

* Alex Wade, the 17-year-old fast bowler, has signed a two-year rookie deal with Yorkshire.

Wade, who has worked his way up through the club’s age groups and Academy, made his debut for England U19s earlier this month.