news-engine

No Hundred, no problem as Yorkshire see off Derbyshire ENTITIES calling themselves “Yorkshire” and “Derbyshire” – organisations dating back well over a century and yet somehow still capable of attracting loyal followings – met in Scarborough on Friday for a game of what is apparently known as one-day cricket. It was a curious spectacle. For a start, there was not a single sign anywhere around North Marine Road informing spectators that “Every Ball Counts”, from which one could only conclude that – unlike at The Hundred – they did not. Nor was there any obvious evidence of pyrotechnics, DJs or hastily assembled franchises. Instead, people simply sat there and watched Yorkshire beat Derbyshire by five wickets in something known as the One-Day Cup, an eccentric competition in which each side is permitted to face as many as 300 balls before changing roles. Extraordinary, really. Even more extraordinary was that 4,503 people came along to watch, with scarcely a spare seat to be found on the three sides of the ground open to the public. Such was the attendance that one could easily have mistaken it for a meeting between SunLoungers Leeds and the Manchester Super Dwarfs. Incredibly, though, it was nothing of the kind. Proceedings began in deeply unconventional fashion. The opening over contained six balls rather than five, yet nobody present seemed remotely concerned by this startling development. Stranger still, Harry Came declined to attempt to deposit every delivery into the North Sea, instead playing out a maiden from George Hill. Quite what possessed him remains unclear. The first six of the afternoon did not arrive until ball number 118, Martin Andersson pulling Jafer Chohan into the Popular Bank, the chance slipping through Will Bennison’s hands on the square-leg boundary. Bennison, however, was not mic’d up at the time and thus not answering questions from former players “in the pod” about the name of his childhood pet or the first concert he attended. Whether this unexpected absence of distraction counterintuitively contributed to the missed chance was also unclear. Chohan, meanwhile, had returned from The Hundred – and a spell with the Welsh Fire Brigade – to make his One-Day Cup debut for the county. Some observers might have considered this a retrograde step for the leg-spinner. They might even have been right. It was Chohan – drawing, one assumes, on all that invaluable Hundred experience – who finally ended Derbyshire’s opening stand, a record for this fixture. With the total on 140, he had Came chipping to long-off for 58 before getting Andersson for 67 five balls later, pulling to mid-wicket. Bennison redeemed himself with a magnificent one-handed catch at backward point to dismiss Wayne Madsen, who reverse-swept Dom Bess with fatal consequences. Derbyshire slipped to 194-4 in the 38th set of six when Brook Guest threw the bat at Ben Cliff and was caught behind. As seagulls hovered, Hill had Caleb Jewell caught at deep square-leg and Luis Reece held at mid-off. Hill then turned catcher, running in from long-on to dismiss Ross Whiteley off Cliff, who captured his third wicket when James Wharton took a skier in the deep off Nick Potts. Derbyshire eventually closed on 278-8, their second-highest one-day total against Yorkshire – competitive, though rather less imposing than had seemed likely when Madsen departed with the total on 171-2 in the 33rd over. During the interval, spectators wandered onto the parched outfield to stretch their legs. On a fine August day, the cloud high and the breeze refreshing, the grass looked so thirsty that, had it been capable, it might have joined the queue at the bar on the Popular Bank. Yorkshire’s pursuit began encouragingly, Adam Lyth unfurling a champagne cover drive to the boundary off Potts. The fizz of the stroke became a fleeting memory, for after Will Luxton edged behind the eighth ball of the innings, Lyth could only fend another excellent delivery to second slip. Bennison, fresh from a fine maiden first-team fifty at Lord’s on Sunday, then edged behind as the hosts slipped to 57-3. The situation called for calm and experienced heads and Yorkshire found them in the form of Wharton and Sam Whiteman. They added 107 inside 23 overs, accumulating sensibly while occasionally unfurling sparkling strokes. Wharton was three-quarters of the way to a hundred when he cut to point, having faced 92 balls and hit nine boundaries. The equation came down to 91 needed from the last 10 overs with six wickets remaining, the contest finely poised. Hill then emerged to provide inventive support to Whiteman, ramping and reverse-hitting with increasing confidence as the outcome began to feel inevitable. Hill went on to reach 63 from 49 balls with eight fours, Whiteman scoring 94 from 98 deliveries with eight fours before being caught down the leg-side off Potts. VIctory left Yorkshire on the brink of knockout qualification and sent most of the crowd home happy. Still, this 300-ball-a-side lark will never catch on.