Yorkshire Strengthen Promotion Hopes
Yorkshire’s bid to secure promotion back to Division One of the County Championship has been given a boost after a dominant victory over Leicestershire in which history was almost made.
The Vertu Motors-backed side went into the game sitting one point behind second-placed Middlesex in the standings, whilst Leicestershire also harboured hopes of promotion going into the game.
Yorkshire won the toss and elected to bowl, but few could have expected what was to follow as the home side collapsed with the bat, with Rishi Patel being caught off the bowling of Ben Coad before a run was on the board.
Lewis Hill managed three before Matthew Fisher had him caught by Adam Lyth, before Coad removed Ian Holland’s leg stump and Lyth then took a quick catch in the slips to remove Rehan Ahmed – leaving Leicestershire on 3-4.
Ajinkya Rahane moved the score into double figures but he was one of two wickets to fall with the score on eleven, being trapped LBW by Fisher in the over after Coad had removed Louis Kimber the same way.
It got even worse four balls after Rahane had departed, with Liam Trevaskis out for four with the score on 15-7.
At that point, there was a real chance that the record low of 20 set by Essex against Lancashire back in 2013 could be beaten, but Ben Cox and Tom Scriven went on the attack, also ensuring that Leicestershire surpassed their previous low score.
Having put on 37, Scriven fell to Coad for 18 and was quickly followed by Scott Currie, with a last wicket stand of 39 between Cox and Chris Wright saw the home team reach 98 all out.
The Yorkshire reply kicked off after lunch and whilst the start was better than the home side, Lyth, Finlay Bean and Will Luxton all fell cheaply to leave the score on 30-3, and Jonny Bairstow didn’t fair much better when he departed for 18 with Yorkshire four wickets down and with little over 50 runs on the board.
James Wharton and Jonathan Tattersall took Yorkshire into the lead before Wharton departed for 41, with Tattersall holding the innings together as George Hill, Dom Bess and Jordan Thompson departed before the end of the day.
At the close, Tattersall had moved to 90 not out in a partnership of 53 with Fisher, and the pair continued to add runs on the second morning.
Tattersall moved past 100 as the partnership was extended to 138 before he was caught off the bowling of Ahmed, and Fisher managed a career best 88 before he was also dismissed by Ahmed to close the innings at 379.
The Leicestershire reply had barely got underway before rain forced the players off the pitch, although Patel and Holland had both been removed with the score on 35-2 going into day three.
After Lewis Hill and Rahane both fell on the third morning to leave Leicestershire on 131-4, it was George Hill who took centre stage for Yorkshire with a fine bowling performance that helped to wrap up a crucial victory.
Hill secured the final six wickets in the innings to take figures of 6-59 as Leicestershire were bowled out for 209 to give Yorkshire victory by an innings and 72 runs.
Glamorgan are up next at Sophia Gardens in the penultimate match of the season.