Rashid shines but Vaughan injured again in draw
George Dobell reports on the fourth day of Warwickshire's Championship match against Yorkshire at Edgbaston
George Dobell at Edgbaston
09-May-2009
Yorkshire 600 for 8 dec and 162 for 3 dec (Rashid 58*, McGrath 53*) drew with Warwickshire 422 for 8 and 60 for 1 (Bell 30*)
Scorecard
Scorecard
It says much about the nature of cricket at Edgbaston that it was
something that didn't happen on the final day which caused more
excitement than anything that did.
Michael Vaughan's inability to bat shed further doubt on the
likelihood of an England recall. Vaughan felt pain in his hamstring
while chasing a ball in the field early in the day and spent the
remainder of the match in the dressing room. He will travel with the
Yorkshire squad for their Friends Provident game in Bristol on Monday,
but is described by the team's director of cricket, Martin Moxon as "a
doubt" to play.
There was a time when fears of an injured Vaughan would keep England
selectors awake at night. Not any more. With Ravi Bopara nailing down
England's number three shot, Vaughan's chances of a recall are dim.
Out of contract with England and Yorkshire at the end of the season,
it may well be that his days as a cricketer are coming to an end.
There was little on-pitch drama on the final day. Though Yorkshire
surprisingly declared at tea, there was never much hope of them
dismissing Warwickshire in 36 overs on this surface. The declaration
was little more than a positive gesture.
The result puts both teams into a mid-table position, though neither
yet have a win. Warwickshire extend their unbeaten Championship run to
19 games, which sounds impressive, but they have won only one of their
last 16 matches at home. Yorkshire, too, have only won twice since the
start of 2008, with both teams favouring a safety first approach. Four
day county cricket has become an attritional affair.
Perhaps things might have been different if either side had taken all
their catches. Most crucially, Gerard Brophy's failure to cling on to
Jonathan Trott when the batsmen had just 26 on the third day may have
cost his side the game. The risk of playing a batsman with little
wicket-keeping pedigree in such a key position has rarely been better
illustrated.
As it was, Trott and Jeetan Patel extended their overnight partnership
to 233 in 47 overs. It is the ninth highest ninth-wicket partnership
in first-class history and overhauled the record for the wicket
against Yorkshire. The previous mark was 160, added by Denys Wilcox
and Ray Smith of Essex at Southend in 1947.
Patel also had cause to celebrate his maiden first-class century.
Reached with a cut for four that also averted the follow-on, Patel
became the first man to score a century on Warwickshire first-class
debut since Kumar Sangakkara in 2007. Patel's was a chanceless affair
that suggested a batting talent that has so far gone unfulfilled;
there was nothing fortunate about it.
The timing of his dismissal was somewhat unfortunate, however.
Attempting to thrash the final ball of the 120th over back over the
head of the bowler, he succeeded only in lofting an easy catch which
gifted Yorkshire a full allocation of bowling bonus points in the nick
of time. Boyd Rankin soon followed, trapped in front by a yorker, to
earn Yorkshire a first innings lead of 118. Trott, who faced little of
the bowling on the final day, was left unbeaten on 161.
Yorkshire soon built on their lead. Though Joe Sayers edged his
attempted drive, Jacques Rudolph again looked in fine touch, driving
Chris Woakes fluently and cutting the disappointing Boyd Rankin out of
the attack.
Rikki Clarke delivered another impressive spell, however. Again
generating sharp pace and steep bounce, Clarke ran in hard and
troubled all the batsmen. Rudolph sliced a drive to point before
Brophy played across a straight one.
Anthony McGrath added to his first-innings double-century, however,
and with elegant support from Adil Rashid, allowed Yorkshire the
chance to declare at tea.
Warwickshire lost Tony Frost early, drawn into an edged drive, but Ian
Bell and Ian Westwood resisted without undue alarm.
Afterwards Ashley Giles played down any suggestion that 20-year-old
Chris Woakes was close to an England call-up. "He's developing
brilliantly," Giles said, "but he's still just a kid. We all have our
feet on the ground and there's no need to rush him.
"These wickets at Edgbaston are very similar to Test wickets, so if he
can learn to bowl here it will stand him in good stead for later in
his career. We've a very inexperienced bowling attack, but we've
talked about playing dogged cricket. We've shown our resilience once
again in this game and if we can start to take our catches, we may
start winning a few matches."