Joshua Cobb

By Gary Watton
July 28 2013

The pathetic pursuit of Twenty20 glory in 2013 by the Vikings ended with the mother of all spankings as a Joshua Cobb-inspired Leicestershire mercilessly put the Tykes to the sword. Now that our Twenty20 campaign has finished after Yorkshire impersonated a blind man trying to climb Mount Everest with his hands tied behind his back, the county's first XI can focus upon their quite realistic quest for the County Championship.

Today's depressing finale began promisingly when Azeem Rafiq won the toss and once more he peculiarly insisted on batting first. His decision appeared to be vindicated when the Vikings got past fifty for the loss of only one wicket. The talented Alex Lees had a fine cameo which is a promise of more to come. Alas, the white rose totally wilted with nine wickets being skittled over for little more than fifty runs. Leicestershire probably couldn't believe their good luck when they were left to 'chase' little more than one hundred runs.

This non-contest was in fact almost single-handedly won by Joshua Cobb who wrecked Yorkshire's middle order with an outstanding three for only nine runs from his four overs. Not content with embarrassing Yorkshire's batsmen, captain Cobb then amassed an unbeaten fifty, sharing an unbroken century stand as Leicestershire won by a whopping ten wickets with almost eight overs remaining.

Okay, so where do Yorkshire go from the nadir of this calamitous campaign? First of all, the personnel will have to change for the future. Admittedly, the Vikings were missing such key players as Bairstow, Bresnan, and Joe Root. Next year, Lees and Lyth should play. Lyth should also bowl. The bowling should be allocated to Pyrah, Sidebottom, possibly Brooks, possibly Rafiq, possibly Rashid, and definitely not Wardlaw or Leaning or Rhodes or Ashraf and probably not Plunkett either. Perhaps we should have a look at young Fisher next summer. Furthermore, Yorkshire need to take a fresh look at their strategy and their methodology. They won plenty of tosses, but depressingly failed to build upon this initial advantage. A lengthy post-mortem and new personnel are each a must.

Leicestershire versus YORKSHIRE; in Leicester; Sunday 28th July 2013; YORKSHIRE won the toss.

YORKSHIRE: 105 (17.2 overs)

Lyth c Taylor b Ireland 12 (23-1)

Lees run out 32 (67-4)

Hodgson c Wells b Taylor 11 (51-2)

Ballance b Cobb 2 (55-3)

Leaning c Wells b Cobb 8 (77-7)

Rhodes b Cobb 0 (68-5)

Pyrah b Al Hasan 6 (75-6)

Plunkett b Thakor 7 (95-9)

Rafiq c Wells b Taylor 12 (91-8)

Wardlaw not out 1

Ashraf b Al Hasan 4 (105)

Extras: 10

Cobb 3-9

LEICESTERSHIRE: 106 for 0 (12.1 overs)

Cobb not out 52

Smith not out 39

Extras: 15

Leicestershire win by ten wickets.