Yorkshire Vikings v Leicestershire Foxes: Fisher nets all the interest and copes with laudable composure

Yet he is evidently old enough to play cricket for Yorkshire, as he proved by making history here yesterday.

Aged 15 years and seven months exactly, Fisher became the youngest to appear in a competitive county match when he made his debut against Leicestershire.

The 6ft 2ins pace bowler took 1-40 from seven overs, fielded friskily and scored 10 from four balls in a game Yorkshire lost by three wickets.

Fisher, who was supposed to have sat his French oral GCSE today before it was rescheduled due to his call-up, beat the previous record of Royston Gabe-Jones, who was 15 years and 274 days when he played for Glamorgan in a County Championship match against Leicestershire at Cardiff in 1922.

The York-born teenager profited from Yorkshire’s growing strategy of fielding young players in a competition they are treating somewhat less seriously than the County Championship; even more so after they had won only one of their opening five games to shatter any hope of reaching the semi-finals.

Fisher, who may not know that he shares his name with the Matthew Fisher formerly of Procol Harum, who co-wrote the classic A Whiter Shade of Pale, looked an endearingly redder shade of crimson last night as he modestly reflected on his Yorkshire debut.

On a day when the cameras came specifically to capture his presence, as though he was some sort of seafront attraction, he naturally found the attention a little unusual, but coped with it all with smiling aplomb.

“It was a great experience and I don’t think it’s all sunk in yet,” said Fisher, who was watched by a large following of family and friends including team-mates from Sheriff Hutton Bridge CC.

“I’m not really the nervous type, though, and I was excited more than anything.

“It was a very proud and emotional moment when I took my wicket and Jason Gillespie (the Yorkshire first-team coach) kindly gave me the matchball afterwards.

“It was a weird experience signing one or two autographs for the crowd because I didn’t really know I had an autograph; I just had to make one up and see how it went.”

Yorkshire, who also handed a debut to 17-year-old all-rounder Ryan Gibson, scored 258-9 from their 40 overs after electing to bat in watery sunshine.

Their innings was given late and necessary impetus by Liam Plunkett, who marked his return from a thigh strain by hammering a 22-ball half-century that included four thumping leg-side sixes.

Thanks primarily to Plunkett, who came in with his team 187-5 in the 34th over, Yorkshire got up to a competitive total that included 94 runs from the last 10 overs.

Plunkett’s 53 was his third half-century in one-day cricket and built on the earlier good work of Joe Sayers, who top-scored with 58 from 63 balls.

Sayers, back in a side missing Gary Ballance (virus), Rich Pyrah (hip) and Moin Ashraf (back), came within five runs of eclipsing his highest one-day score.

The left-hander struck six fours before picking out long-off off Shiv Thakor, the most successful bowler with 3-39.

Andrew Gale, fresh from his career-best 272 against Nottinghamshire the previous day, gave the innings a good start with 44 from 42 balls, Adam Lyth chipping in with 39.

But many of the 3,400 crowd had come to see Fisher, who faced the last four balls of the innings and edged two fours through third man before he was run-out off the final delivery.

With Yorkshire fielding four players with only six caps between them in the form of pace bowlers Ben Coad and Will Rhodes, plus the two debutants, they were always going to face a difficult task to defend their total.

But Leicestershire were made to work hard for a win clinched with five balls to spare, and one that looked in some doubt when they fell to 189-7 in the 32nd over before Rob Taylor and Jigar Naik guided them home with an unbroken stand of 71.

Fisher, whose lanky physical appearance belies his age, came on for the 10th over of the innings from the Peasholm Park end.

Only two runs arrived from it and only 18 from his opening spell of four overs, which saw him maintain a mostly disciplined off-stump line.

With a little more luck he might have had the wicket of Greg Smith, who was almost caught behind off the youngster’s second ball.

As it was, Rhodes got Smith and Ned Eckersley too, Gibson removed Michael Thornely with his sixth delivery and Fisher had to wait until the third ball of his second spell for a deserved success, trapping Thakor lbw to spark memorable refrains of Walking in a Fisher Wonderland on the popular bank.

A replica scorecard was presented to Yorkshire president 
Geoffrey Boycott during the interval of yesterday’s match by the Yorkshire County Cricket Supporters’ Association in recognition of his maiden first-class century 50 years ago this month.

Boycott scored 145 from the No 5 position against Lancashire at Bramall Lane, helping his side to victory by an innings and 110 runs.

Boycott went on to score 151 first-class hundreds during a career that brought him 48,426 runs at an average of 56.83.