Day two at Headingley

Brian Sanderson on cricket, conversations and memorabilia

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Another sunny day at Headingley. Before leaving the house this morning, I spent some time researching a talk I’ll be giving tomorrow.

Upon arriving at the ground, I struck up a conversation with William Roberts, a vendor of cricket memorabilia from whom I’ve bought numerous items over the past twenty years. We discussed the match situation and agreed that Yorkshire should declare at around 550 runs.

Settling into the new stand, we watched Jonny Bairstow and George Hill continue their batting. Yorkshire’s first target was to secure top batting points by scoring 450 runs or more. As they progressed to and beyond this milestone, George Hill reached his second first-class century. Then Bairstow was bowled by leg-spinner Luke Hollman for 160, ending a partnership of 236.

At lunch, Yorkshire stood at 485 for 6, with George Hill not out on 113. During the break, as always on the second day of home championship matches, I displayed some of my memorabilia in the Long Room, including scorecards from matches at Scarborough and press photographs. I was joined by the grandson of Arthur Mitchell, a Yorkshire cricketer from the 1930s and a post-war coach. It’s always a pleasure to talk to relatives of former players.

After a brief trip home for some sandwiches, I returned to find Yorkshire still batting, which seemed odd. Yorkshire needed enough time to bowl out Middlesex twice on a flat wicket. However, they continued to score 601—a new record against Middlesex. George Hill achieved his highest first-class score of 169, surpassing his previous best of 155 not out. Luke Hollman bowled 47 overs, taking three wickets for 194.

When Middlesex finally began their response, Sam Robson and Mark Stoneman batted the fourteen overs before tea without losing a wicket, scoring 55 runs with ease. It looked like a tough evening session for the Yorkshire spinners. After tea, Stoneman was out for 27, caught by Adam Lyth off Dom Bess’s bowling, and Dom Moriarty and Bess bowled unchanged for the rest of the session without success. The day ended at six o’clock, with Yorkshire bowling two more overs than allotted—a rare occurrence in these days of slow over-rates.

I can only see one result—a draw, which would suit Middlesex. I think Yorkshire’s bowling isn’t strong enough on this flat wicket. It would be interesting to see what a class spinner could do on this pitch. Unfortunately, neither Yorkshire nor Middlesex has one.

Brian Sanderson is an ACS member. He serves on the Yorkshire Cricket Archives Committee. If you would like to contribute to this newsletter, please either respond to the email in which you received it, or leave a comment below.