By Gary Watton
April 25 2016

Warwickshire, who have been consistently one of the best teams in county cricket in recent years, have nevertheless been on the receiving end of quite a few defeats at the hands of champions Yorkshire in previous seasons, so they were resolved to make amends in Birmingham. However, although they took three quick wickets to unsettle our top order and then proceeded to build a first-innings lead, any hopes that the hosts possessed of recording a rare win against the Tykes were washed away by the frequent interruptions caused by the inhospitable English weather.

For the second Yorkshire match in succession, the away team captain shunned the chance to bowl first but instead opted for a coin toss in the hope of bowling first. Andrew Gale's original decision was vindicated somewhat, as he managed to guess correctly on the ensuing flipped coin. In the subsequent contest nine batsmen got beyond fifty, but only Michael Chopra converted his half ton into a century. Ultimately, it was the weather which won this fixture. The visitors have yet to taste victory this season, but they were also sluggish out of the blocks last year, again owing something to less than satisfactory weather. Clearly, on the evidence of the first two matches, our bowling needs to improve, as we are struggling to bowl teams out cheaply - or could it be that counties this year are indeed making a determined effort to produce more batsman-friendly wickets, after some of the contrived debacles of recent seasons in which pitches have been manipulated to ensure results are achieved.   

Warwickshire versus YORKSHIRE; Birmingham; Sunday the 24th to Wednesday the 27th April. YORKSHIRE chose to bat.

YORKSHIRE first innings: 379 (Ballance 68, Patterson 63*, Rashid 63, Leaning 51; Woakes 4-87, Barker 3-101)

Warwickshire first innings: 443 for nine declared (Chopra 107, Trott 74, Ambrose 61*, Bell 59, Clarke 51; Rashid 4-127)

YORKSHIRE second innings: 73 for two

Match drawn. Warwickshire thirteen points, YORKSHIRE eleven points.

Lyth - 27 runs from two innings was less than satisfactory for our ace opener. 

Lees - Scores of nineteen and twenty are again well below par. Alex needs to improve fast, or else make way for an in-form Will Rhodes.

Ballance - Gary hit eighty-nine runs in the match, being dismissed just the once. This was a welcome return to form for someone hoping for an England call up.

Gale - Galey has yet to hit the heights, having been dismissed cheaply for five in the first innings. He did at least finish unbeaten on nineteen second time around.

Bairstow - Twenty runs from 25 balls looked like the foundation for another punishing contribution, but Jonny was then bowled by Chris Woakes.

Leaning - Seven boundaries in his two-hour vigil at the crease represented a step in the right direction for Jack. He needs to kick on from here.

Rashid - Adil again underlined his all-rounder credentials with a decent half century, followed by four wickets, although his bowling was not very economical.

Plunkett - 26 runs in only thirty balls reinforced Liam's current fine batting form. Unfortunately he was unable to take a wicket from his 24 overs.

Patterson - Eleven fours in his excellent batting effort were a pleasant surprise. Steve then characteristically weighed in with a couple of wickets, costing 80 runs.

Brooks - A mere two runs with the bat were followed by a disappointing bowling performance that yielded one wicket, costing 105 runs, from 24 overs.

Sidebottom - Ryan chipped in with fifteen runs but he then suffered an injury after bowling only 5.3 overs. His loss was a big blow to Yorkshire's chances.