Centurion Gale

By Gary Watton
July 19 2015

The Championship leaders afforded themselves the luxury of five frontline seamers and a spinner in their attack, not to mention the all-rounder Will Rhodes, as they recalled Liam Plunkett to their starting eleven. With Bresnan in red-hot form with the bat, and Rashid and the rest of the bowlers liable to chip in with valuable runs, the selection was vindicated. Personally I would have played Middlebrook as the second spin option, but the unstoppable Tykes got it right again. 

Admittedly, Worcestershire proved to be no pushover. The visitors were always fighting against the odds when Andrew Gale elected to bat first. However, the home team were in some trouble at fifty-seven for three, courtesy of a trio of wickets for Joe Leach. Then along came the captain and his wicketkeeper to rescue the situation with a stand of 254 runs for the fourth wicket. Yet again, the English champions could rely on a mammoth stand to lay the foundations for a good innings total. Previously we have seen the combinations of Gale and Leaning plus Bairstow and Bresnan provide huge partnerships. Bairstow's contribution which amounted to virtually a run a ball century followed by a half century which was even quicker than a run a ball was not just timely for Yorkshire but also for himself, as the maestro found himself being reinstated to the England team, displacing county colleague, Gary Ballance. This decision is entirely correct and justifiable. One only hopes that Jonny will do himself justice for England. He will presumably be granted the three remaining Ashes tests to replicate his county form at test level.

This time, Andrew Gale took the decision to enforce the follow-on, which plucky Worcestershire narrowly failed to avoid. I thought that maybe Gale was worried about possible inclement weather, but then the penny dropped with this slow learner. The champions had five seamers to share the workload, plus the spin option of Rashid and the back-up of young Rhodes. Given this embarrassment of riches, the league leaders were well placed to launch straight back into the opposition's batting order and make steady inroads.

To be fair to Worcestershire, they did not capitulate, but actually provided the white rose protagonists with more of a challenge than some other counties have managed of late. On the away team's roll of honour looms the name of Ross Whiteley who once again proved to be something of a thorn in the side of the Yorkshire team. Having recently belted the Vikings to all corners of the ground, and into the crowd on eleven occasions in a Twenty20 outing, Whiteley now proceeded to take no fewer than four catches in the hosts' first innings, before weighing in with a typically belligerent century that consisted of fourteen fours and two sixes.

However, the last word went to Bairstow and Lees who succeeded in taking the Championship favourites towards the finishing line, after a brief wobble had seen the Championship leaders flagging at forty-four for three.

As long as the weather continues to hold, then Yorkshire look set to repeat their Championship success of 2014. They will now be handicapped by the forcible removal of young Bairstow, the County Championship's player of the season, but hopefully the other batsmen and the recalled Hodd between them will be able to cobble together enough runs to give the bowlers ample chance to inflict havoc upon our future adversaries.

If only this form, which amounts to five successive County Championship victories, could be translated into the twenty-overs version, but now the Vikings will hope to derive some inspiration as they begin their quest for success in the Royal London One-Day Cup. Can Yorkshire thrive without the red-hot Bairstow and Root? We will soon find out.

YORKSHIRE versus Worcestershire; at Scarborough; Sunday the 19th to Wednesday the 22nd of July. YORKSHIRE won the toss.

YORKSHIRE first innings: 430 (Gale 164, Bairstow 139; Leach 4-139, Morris 3-90)

Worcestershire first innings: 280 (Clarke 88; Patterson 3-34)

Worcestershire second innings: 306 (Whiteley 101; Brooks 3-41)

YORKSHIRE second innings: 157 for three (Bairstow 74*, Lees 58*)

YORKSHIRE won by seven wickets. YORKSHIRE 24 points, Worcestershire 5 points.

Lees - AL atoned for his first-innings failure with three catches and an unbeaten second-innings knock, which consisted of seven fours and two sixes.

Rhodes - Scores of nine and twelve are simply not good enough. The question is: Is Will opening batsman material, or even first eleven material?

Leaning - Trapped leg before for seventeen and then for four, is Jack's purple patch gone? He did at least compensate slightly by taking three important catches.

Gale - 'Galey Lad' batted for six and a half hours for his magnificent ton, which featured fourteen fours. His second effort however only lasted for three balls.

Bairstow - This gent is on fire. His averages are Bradman-esque and his displays are Pietersen-esque. Yorkshire's loss is England's gain. Go Jonny go.

Rashid - Adil took three wickets, but conceded 127 runs from 31 expensive overs. He missed out with the bat, contributing only six runs from fourteen balls.

Bresnan - The all-rounder chipped in with a couple of wickets and reinforced his growing reputation as a fine middle order batsman with a useful 28 runs.

Plunkett - Liam failed to bowl a maiden in his twenty-two overs, but his second innings effort was considerably more economical than his first innings attempt.

Patterson - Steady Steven assisted with the downfall of the visitors as he captured four wickets at a cost of eighty-nine runs from his thirty overs.

Brooks - JB took five wickets at a cost of 106 runs from his thirty overs. He can still count himself a trifle unlucky to be overlooked in favour of Mark Wood.

Sidebottom - Ryan took three wickets, costing 78 runs, from his 28 overs, as he chipped in to the conquest of the away team's batting order.

CURRENT DIVISION ONE STANDINGS:

YORKSHIRE - played ten matches; 189 points

Warwickshire - played eleven matches; 155 points

Durham - played eleven matches; 151 points

Middlesex - played eleven matches; 151 points

Nottinghamshire - played eleven matches; 127 points

Somerset - played eleven matches; 120 points

Worcestershire - played eleven matches; 107 points

Sussex - played eleven matches; 104 points

Hampshire - played eleven matches; 86 points

AVERAGES

BATSMEN (minimum requirement - one hundred runs):

Bairstow - 108.89; 980 runs; highest score - 219 not out; five centuries and four fifties

Bresnan - 60; 540 runs; highest score - 169 not out; two centuries and two fifties

Finch - 55.5; 111 runs; highest score - 77 not out; one fifty

Leaning - 54; 756 runs; highest score - 123; three centuries and two fifties

Pujara - 52.8; 264 runs; highest score - 133 not out; one century and one fifty

Gale - 40.53; 608 runs; highest score - 164; two centuries and one fifty

BEST BOWLERS (minimum requirement - ten wickets):

Sidebottom - 17.04; 24 wickets; best bowling: 6-34

Middlebrook - 20.91; eleven wickets; best bowling: 5-82

Brooks - 21.75; 48 wickets; best bowling: 5-44

Patterson - 22.18; 34 wickets; best bowling: 5-11

Rashid - 27; eighteen wickets; best bowling: 4-48

Bresnan - 32.25; 28 wickets; best bowling: 5-85