Yorkshire v Nottinghamshire: Rain and true grit enable Yorkshire to stay in hunt

After playing second fiddle to their title rivals, Yorkshire escaped with a fortuitous draw on a tense final day at Headingley Carnegie.

At tea, Yorkshire were 406-8 in their second innings – effectively 39-8 and staring down the barrel.

But rain washed out the rest of the match to thwart the visitors in agonising style.

Of course, no one could state with certainty Yorkshire would not have escaped but for inclement weather.

They fought tenaciously after being soundly outplayed during the first two days.

But it was odds-on they would have fallen to defeat and surrendered an 18-point lead to their nearest challengers.

As it was, they are just five points behind a Nottinghamshire side who went back to the top with a game in hand.

Martyn Moxon, Yorkshire's director of professional cricket, breathed a sigh of relief but was delighted with his team's tenacious recovery.

Yorkshire conceded a first innings deficit of 367 before hitting back in spirited fashion.

"We had a poor first two days but credit to the lads for fighting back so manfully on the last two days," said Moxon.

"Obviously we had a bit of luck with the rain but, arguably, we earned that for the effort we put in.

"We batted near enough five sessions in our second innings and the important thing is we're still in the title race.

"We said after day two that we had to make sure we didn't lose, and we live to fight another day."

Moxon feels Yorkshire must win at least two of their remaining four games to win the league.

Yorkshire travel to Durham (August 16-19), play Hampshire at Scarborough (August 23-26), visit Nottinghamshire (September 7-10) and round off with a fixture against Kent at Headingley Carnegie (September 13-16).

"We'll probably have to win at least half our remaining games to win the title, but we'll have to play better than we did here," he acknowledged.

"It would have been difficult to win the league had we lost this match, and it promises to be an exciting run-in.

"Five or six teams are probably still in with a shout of winning the Championship, so there's everything to play for. But we'll have to improve on our overall performance during this game."

Had Yorkshire been offered a draw on Wednesday evening, they would have grabbed it with both hands.

Nottinghamshire closed day two on 497-6 in their first innings after dismissing their hosts for 178 after losing the toss..

The visitors extended their total to 545-7 before declaring on the third morning to establish a menacing position.

But helped principally by Jacques Rudolph (141) and Anthony McGrath (80), along with another poor pitch that obligingly died a death from Yorkshire's perspective, the home team survived by the skin of their teeth.

"We got off to a poor start with the bat and that cost us," admitted Moxon.

"The pitch did a little bit on day one – not a great deal but just enough to keep the bowlers interested – and we weren't able to combat the movement there was. When we bowled, we just couldn't get any consistency with line or length.

"But to come back the way we did showed the character and determination we've got in the side."

Mick Newell, Nottinghamshire's director of cricket, was frustrated with the outcome after his players made all the early running.

"It was disappointing not to win because it was such an important game for both clubs," he said.

"To have built an 18-point lead over Yorkshire would have been great from our point of view.

"We perhaps showed up Yorkshire's lack of experience during the first two days, but they've done very well to be where they are.

"It's a wide-open title race and they're still very much contenders."

After resuming yesterday on 272-2 beneath charcoal skies, a deficit of 95, Yorkshire lost McGrath in only the fifth over of the day.

The former England all-rounder edged Darren Pattinson to wicketkeeper Chris Read after adding two to his overnight score.

Andrew Gale and Steve Patterson settled Yorkshire's nerves by posting 46 in 23 overs, but the slow rate of scoring ensured Nottinghamshire always remained in the hunt.

Gale was caught and bowled by Sidebottom shortly before lunch but Patterson, the nightwatchman, batted through a morning session in which 53 runs were scored in 31 overs.

Patterson's dogged vigil ended just after the break when he was caught at silly-point off Samit Patel, Yorkshire slipping to 336-6 when Jonathan Bairstow was bowled by Pattinson.

Gerard Brophy and Adil Rashid combined in an important seventh-wicket partnership of 62 before the former was caught behind off Sidebottom, who had Ajmal Shahzad brilliantly caught by Andre Adams at third slip on the stroke of tea.

It proved to be the last action of a contest that had a minimum of 34 overs left when the heavens opened.

n Yorkshire return to Clydesdale Bank 40 League action tomorrow when they play Derbyshire at Chesterfield (1.45pm start).

Yorkshire (from): Gale (captain), Rudolph, Lyth, McGrath, Bairstow, Brophy, Rashid, Bresnan, Pyrah, Wainwright, Best, Patterson, Hodgson, Sanderson.

Scorecard

Headingley Carnegie: Yorkshire (5pts) drew with Nottinghamshire (11pts)

Overnight: Nottinghamshire 545-7 dec (D J Hussey 251 no, S R Patel 96, P J Franks 61, M J Wood 59). Yorkshire 178 and 272-2 (J A Rudolph 141, A McGrath 78 no).

Trescothick criticised after failing to go for victory

Somerset's bid to land their first Championship title was undermined when they inexplicably batted throughout the final day against Kent at Canterbury.

Against part-time bowling and an attacking field, Somerset refused to set the hosts a target and churned on to reach a second innings total of 387-7 to ensure stalemate when the teams shook hands on a draw.

Visiting captain Marcus Trescothick endured verbal abuse from the crowd for batting through and taking 10 points for the draw.

Hampshire's Michael Carberry scored his second century of the match before rain washed out any hope of a positive result against Durham at Basingstoke.

Carberry hit 162 in the first innings and followed that with another 107 in the second innings.

But when rain intervened Hampshire were 203-5 in their second innings, a lead of 304 with 44 overs of the match allocation still remaining.

Ian Westwood scored the only half-century of the match to guide bottom side Warwickshire to a seven-wicket victory over fellow strugglers Essex at Southend.

The visiting captain struck 61 to steer his side to their third success of the summer after they were left a target of 155.

Yorkshire First Innings

A Lyth c Read b Sidebottom 0

J A Rudolph run out 1

A McGrath c Read b Adams 29

A W Gale lbw b Franks 24

J M Bairstow b Sidebottom 45

G L Brophy b Adams 5

A U Rashid lbw b Pattinson 13

A Shahzad c Read b Franks 17

D J Wainwright not out 20

S A Patterson lbw b S R Patel 10

O J Hannon-Dalby lbw b S R Patel 2

Extras b3 lb3 w2 nb4 12

Total (58.3 overs) 178

Fall: 1-0 2-5 3-36 4-82 5-89 6-104 7-136 8-144 9-176

Bowling: Sidebottom 15 6 25 2; Pattinson 12 1 61 1; Franks 14 3 40 2; Adams 14 3 44 2; S R Patel 3.3 1 2 2.

Nottinghamshire First Innings

A D Hales c Brophy b Patterson 2

M J Wood lbw b Patterson 59

M A Wagh b Hannon-Dalby 4

S R Patel c Rudolph b A U Rashid 96

D J Hussey not out 251

P J Franks c Bairstow b Shahzad 61

A R Adams not out 13

Extras b5 lb5 w3 nb2 15

Total 7 wkts dec (117 overs) 545

Fall: 1-22 2-52 3-97 4-281 5-395 6-400 7-511

Did not bat: R J Sidebottom, D J Pattinson.

Bowling: Shahzad 21 1 115 2; Patterson 29 3 110 3; Hannon-Dalby 22 1 104 1; A U Rashid 23 0 104 1; Wainwright 11 1 57 0; McGrath 10 1 32 0; Lyth 1 0 13 0.

Yorkshire Second Innings

A Lyth c Adams b Franks 37

J A Rudolph c Adams b Pattinson 141

A McGrath c Read b Pattinson 80

S A Patterson c Wagh b S R Patel 26

A W Gale c & b Sidebottom 14

J M Bairstow b Pattinson 7

G L Brophy c Read b Sidebottom 37

A U Rashid not out 34

A Shahzad c Adams b Sidebottom 3

Extras b6 lb12 w1 nb8 pens 0 27

Total 8 wkts (153 overs) 406

Fall: 1-58 2-269 3-276 4-322 5-326 6-336 7-398 8-406

Did Not Bat: D J Wainwright, O J Hannon-Dalby.

Bowling: Sidebottom 29 9 66 3; Pattinson 24 3 78 3; Franks 26 11 61 1; Adams 29 11 68 0; S R Patel 41 6 104 1; Hussey 4 0 11 0.