Yorkshire united in purpose as Patterson leads way

“Crisis? What crisis?” was his message following the departure of England pace bowler Ajmal Shahzad.

But while Shahzad’s situation was an isolated case, with absolutely no suggestion of widespread disaffection, actions tend to speak louder than words.

To that effect, a thumping innings win over Leicestershire seemed to provide clear evidence of the concord that exists within the Yorkshire set-up.

Indeed, to watch the Yorkshire players celebrate victory in the Scarborough sunshine on Saturday was to watch a team united in purpose.

There seems a genuine togetherness about the squad – or, to borrow the hackneyed phrase so beloved of sportsmen, “a great spirit in the camp”.

It is a spirit which, on this evidence, should serve Yorkshire well through this season and beyond.

And with the Shahzad situation now behind them, they can concentrate on trying to live up to their billing as one of the pre-season favourites to win promotion.

Not that Yorkshire had everything their own way on the final day at North Marine Road; far from it.

Leicestershire held them up in a fashion that belied their supine first innings capitulation, when they crumbled to 116 in reply to Yorkshire’s 447 and looked like men trying to bat in thick fog as well as in the gale-force winds which battered this match.

Resuming on 102-3, 229 adrift, they rallied to reach an eminently respectable 309 before the game concluded at 3.40pm.

For that the visitors were grateful to Matthew Boyce (122), Josh Cobb (69) and Wayne White (67), who briefly threatened an improbable draw before the likeliest outcome finally prevailed.

Boyce and Cobb added 128 for the fourth wicket in 49 overs and Boyce and White 133 for the fifth in 33 to reduce the deficit to just 49 runs with five wickets remaining.

Enter Anthony McGrath, who drew a sharp return catch from White to trigger a collapse which saw the last five wickets fall for 27 runs in nine overs.

The 6ft 4in strike bowler Steve Patterson finished with 5-77 and career-best match figures of 8-94, while McGrath was parsimony personified with 1-33 from 21 overs.

Victory was only Yorkshire’s fourth in 21 Championship matches dating back to September, 2010, and a maiden triumph for new first-team coach Jason Gillespie.

“It was a clinical performance and we drove the game from day one,” said Gillespie, whose side started the season with three straight draws.

“I’ve been happy with how things have been going for the most part this season but it’s great to finally get that first win.

“We haven’t had great conditions with the weather, but you can’t control that and I know that if we nail the basics we are always going to be there or thereabouts.

“Any innings victory is something special and something you can really hang your hat on.”

It would have been easy, after the Shahzad situation blew up on the eve of this match, for Yorkshire to have lost focus against last year’s wooden spoonists.

Instead, they were utterly dominant during the first half of the game before deservedly applying the coup de grace.

“There was an issue earlier in the week but we dealt with it,” said Gillespie.

“There is massive unity within the squad and the result speaks for itself.

“We dominated the start of the match and I thought the final day provided a really good challenge for us because a few of their lads really got stuck in. I thought Boyce, Cobb and White were excellent and the most pleasing thing for me was the way our lads stuck to their game plan, stayed patient and kept building pressure.”

The nuggety qualities of Boyce and Cobb were once again evident when Saturday’s action began in pleasant sunshine.

Their stand was worth 88 at start of play and Yorkshire did not separate them until an hour had elapsed, Cobb walking in front of one from Patterson which pinned him lbw.

It was a tasty innings from Cobb, who was positive both in attack and defence.

One wicket brought two as Ned Eckersley quickly followed him back to the pavilion, bowled off his pads by England all-rounder Tim Bresnan.

White proved a willing ally for Boyce as the pair took Leicestershire into lunch on 191-5.

Boyce went to his century – the slowest of the season – from 250 balls with 11 fours before McGrath eased nerves with his dismissal of White.

Yorkshire effected a quick kill as Ryan Sidebottom yorked Boyce and had Robbie Joseph lbw first ball.

The left-armer’s hat-trick delivery shaved the off-stump of Nadeem Malik, who was ninth out when the leg-spin of Adil Rashid trapped him lbw.

Seam bowler Patterson ended the match by having Claude Henderson caught in the slips by Gary Ballance as Yorkshire sealed their first win by an innings since they beat Essex at Scarborough in the corresponding week two years ago.

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