Report on National League match Yorkshire v Kent, 27th July 2003 by John Ward

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Scorecard:

Yorkshire v Kent

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Yorkshire (197/8) beat Kent (179 all out) by 18 runs.

Yorkshire won only their second Norwich Union victory of the season with a tense 18-run victory over Kent at Scarborough. Their batting was disappointing, but they pulled back the match with a tight bowling performance, while Kent dug their own graves with some very poor batting. The batting of Craig White (47) and the bowling of Victor Craven (4/22 at the death) were the chief individual performances for Yorkshire.

This was a match between two struggling Division 1 teams, Yorkshire at the start of the match being placed ninth out of nine, and Kent seventh. Yorkshire omitted wicketkeeper Simon Guy and the injured Ryan Sidebottom from the team that played Hampshire, replacing them with Richard Blakey and Tim Bresnan.

Kent won the toss and put Yorkshire in to bat on a pitch that looked greener than the one for the championship match just completed. There was a short boundary on the seaward side of the pitch, but Yorkshire were not to take good advantage of it.

The match began with some controversy. In the second over Ben Trott moved the ball sharply away from Stephen Fleming (7), beating him. The ball kept swinging away, the keeper took it rather casually one-handed and made what appeared to be a token appeal with little support from his field or bowler. Fleming seemed stunned to be given out caught at the wicket by umpire Jeff Evans.

More controversy was to follow as Yuvraj Singh (11), after looking much more confident in pyjama cricket than the four-day game, appeared to edge Trott to second slip where a catch was claimed at ground level. There were questions as to whether the ball had carried and also perhaps whether it was simply off the batsman’s pad, but the umpires conferred and gave him out. Yorkshire were 32 for two in the sixth over, and the crowd, estimated to number between 4500 and 6000, was not happy.

Yorkshire were further in trouble when Michael Lumb (5) tried to pull the wrong ball from Trott and skyed a simple catch for the keeper to take jogging towards fine leg. Matthew Wood was still there, playing a firm anchor role, but was soon overtaken by Craig White, who played some powerful strokes, with his straight drive being particularly impressive.

Wood (24) added to the conversational topic of the day when he swung, perhaps in frustration, at Amjad Khan and walked for the resultant catch at the wicket without waiting for the decision of the umpire, Barrie Leadbeater, who did not appear to be moving – although he might just have been waiting for Wood to face him before raising his finger. Yorkshire were 75 for four.

Victor Craven (0) was all at sea against Muttiah Muralitharan and quickly given out caught at the wicket by umpire Evans after another rather mild appeal; he too did not appear happy with the decision, but with no television replay available a definitive judgement was impossible. But certainly there was too much controversy on this particular afternoon for the good of the game.

White continued to play with conviction, even when defending against Muralitharan, and hit the bad ball powerfully. Richard Blakey, back in the side, proved a quiet but admirable partner, but with a current scoring rate of just over four an over, something special was needed. They were unable to increase it, with White finally out for 47, risking a single to Murali at mid-on and paying the price after a direct hit.

Murali was to make as much of an impact on the match through his fielding than anything else, as an even more brilliant stop and throw removed Blakey in a similar way for 35, as Yorkshire desperately strove to improve their run rate. When Murali then bowled Andy Gray first ball, Yorkshire appeared to be as good as buried at 143 for eight in the 38th over.

Tim Bresnan batted sensibly, and shared a useful partnership with Chris Silverwood, after a nervous start by the latter, who hit Ealham for a big six over midwicket in the penultimate over. Yorkshire closed on 197 for eight, with the two batsmen on 36 and 25 respectively. It did not look up to par, but in the event this unbroken 54-run stand turned out to be the crucial partnership of the match.

Kent’s most successful bowler was Trott, with three for 39 in his nine overs, while Muralitharan took two for 25 – and two run-outs. It was a disciplined bowling performance by Kent, who only bowled four wides during the Yorkshire innings – a number soon exceeded by the Yorkshire bowlers.

A target of under 200 would not put much initial pressure on Kent, but they had 40 on the board after five overs. The final four runs came from the edge of Ed Smith’s bat, a potential catch flying unattempted through an inviting gap between keeper and slip, and taking his score to 28. This seemed to cool him down after a flying start, and he fell for 36, superbly caught low in the covers off Silverwood. Amjad Khan lasted two balls before dragging the same bowler on to his stumps, and Kent were 57 for two. Here the match began to turn, as Yorkshire’s bowlers tightened up their line and started to exert some pressure on the new batsmen.

Robert Key, who had opened with Smith, struggled to 28 before Steve Kirby shattered his stumps with a superb delivery, but then spoilt it by running down the pitch and clenching his fist offensively under the nose of the departing batsman. Disciplinary action is needed here; such behaviour brings the game into disrepute. There seemed to be indications of some bad blood between the sides after the umpiring controversies earlier.

Matthew Walker followed next ball, bowled by Craven for 8, and suddenly Kent were struggling at 82 for four in the 19th over. David Fulton and Geraint Jones battled it out until the latter tried to swing Craven across the line and was trapped lbw for 14; 101 for five.

The match was finely balanced as Kent needed 89 to win off 17 overs, with five wickets left, and at this point Gray put down a hard return catch from Ealham. However he bowled him for 2 in his next over and the already voluble crowd became increasingly excited.

71 from 12 overs – as announced on the public address system, as again there had been a power failure in the scoreboard, as had happened during the championship match against Hampshire. Fulton struggled to score quickly enough, while James Tredwell seemed quite out of his depth for a while. But he stayed and improved, until in desperation he swung across a beautifully flighted ball from Gray to be bowled for 24. The asking rate was now eight an over.

Muralitharan swung at a wide ball from Bresnan and was given out caught at the wicket for 4, another decision obviously disapproved by the batsman. Kent were 171 for eight in the 42nd over. 20 were needed off the last two overs with two wickets left. Fulton, striking out boldly, was bowled by Craven for 48, leaving the last pair to complete the job. It was too much for them: Martin Saggers (1) swung gamely several times without making serious contact, and another full-length delivery from Craven knocked over his stumps in the penultimate over.

Craven, after taking two wickets against Hampshire, will be hoping for reclassification as an all-rounder after his four wickets here. Gray and Silverwood also took two wickets, for 28 and 42 runs respectively. All Yorkshire will be hoping that their hitherto dismal one-day season changes here.

(Article: Copyright © 2003 John Ward)