Match report day 2 Yorkshire v Leicestershire Championship 2004 by John Ward

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Scorecard:

Yorkshire v Leicestershire

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Toss: Leicestershire, to bat
Lunch: Leicestershire 17/0 off 5.4 overs (Robinson 12*, Maddy 1*).
Tea: Leicestershire 72/2 off 22.4 overs (Hodge 26*, Sadler 6*).
Close: Leicestershire 76/2 off 25.2 overs (Hodge 30*, Sadler 6*).

 

As Tony Blair’s spin doctors would say, this was a much better day than yesterday. But the cold, wet facts were that only a quarter of a day’s play was possible at Headingley Stadium on Saturday, after a washed-out Friday, and the chances of an unforced result are very thin.

 

Play did start on time, although the skies remained fairly threatening. Leicestershire took the option of batting on a pitch with a little even greenness in it. The local view is that this season it has been an advantage to bat first, as the pitch is inclined to be slow and deteriorate fairly quickly.

 

Chris Silverwood bowled a rather erratic first over from the Kirkstall Lane End, which still qualified as a maiden, while Steve Kirby at the other end also took a while to settle. The first boundary came in the fourth over, as Darren Robinson forced a ball from Kirby through the covers off the back foot, an impressive stroke, and later in the over backward of point for another four. Silverwood settled down to extract some bounce and beat the bat on occasions.

 

In the sixth over, umbrellas started going up, and with a light rain the umpires brought the players off with the score 17 without loss. The rain quickly turned to hail, so the umpires could scarcely be blamed on this occasion for leading the players from the field. The umpires decided to take an early lunch and inspect the pitch at 1 p.m., in the hope of starting play at 1.40.

 

There were no further climatic mishaps, but in Silverwood’s next over Maddy slashed a four through gully Craig White, hitting him a painful blow on the finger as it travelled to the boundary, but not enough to send him off the field. Silverwood continued to make the ball lift and every now and then would beat the bat, without finding the edge, with a vicious delivery. His usual length was a little too short. Kirby had more difficulty finding his line, but the greatest difficulty was with the weather. More rain started to fall less than five overs after the restart: Leicestershire were 27 without loss after 10.1 overs, Robinson with 15 and Maddy 6.

 

Only 15 minutes’ play were lost this time, though, but the breaks did serve to refresh Yorkshire’s strike bowlers. The erratic Kirby was replaced by Tim Bresnan, who struck with his first delivery, as Maddy pushed at a ball in the channel just outside off stump and edged it to second slip Matthew Wood. He scored 9, and Leicestershire were 36 for one.

 

Brad Hodge came in, and found the line suited him; in the rest of the over cut two boundaries, one late and one square. Robinson cut Silverwood for four, and then Hodge cut Bresnan for two more boundaries; Yorkshire were paying dearly for their failure to post at least one deep fielder between point and third man. Then one of Silverwood’s rising deliveries did the trick, as Robinson unwisely drove off the front foot and the catch flew straight to cover Michael Lumb at about shoulder-height. He made 22, and Leicestershire were 58 for two.

 

More rain arrived after 20.5 overs, though it was light enough to annoy the crowd as umpires and players strolled slowly from the field. The score was now 68 for two, but almost immediately the rain stopped, and no sooner were the covers in place than they were removed again.

 

Bresnan had now learned not to feed Hodge’s cut, bowling a much straighter line, slowing him down – and then came more rain, at 72 for two. Although it was light and soon stopped, the umpires took quite a while to emerge, and then decided to take an early tea.

 

Kirby took over from Silverwood and he too managed to get lift from the Kirkstall Lane End. The light was not good and the skies were looking increasingly ominous, as the batsmen seemed much less comfortable than they had earlier. Less than three further overs were possible before the skies once again started leaking, and it was quite clear that this test interference would be permanent.

 

(Article: Copyright © 2004 John Ward)