da pixbet： George Dobell reports on the fourth day of Warwickshire’s Championship match against Yorkshire at Edgbaston
da lvbet： George Dobell at Edgbaston09-May-2009Yorkshire 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*)
ScorecardJonathan Trott guides one out to the off side during his unbeaten 161•Getty Images
It says much about the nature of cricket at Edgbaston that it wassomething that didn’t happen on the final day which caused moreexcitement than anything that did.Michael Vaughan’s inability to bat shed further doubt on thelikelihood of an England recall. Vaughan felt pain in his hamstringwhile chasing a ball in the field early in the day and spent theremainder of the match in the dressing room. He will travel with theYorkshire squad for their Friends Provident game in Bristol on Monday,but is described by the team’s director of cricket, Martin Moxon as “adoubt” to play.There was a time when fears of an injured Vaughan would keep Englandselectors awake at night. Not any more. With Ravi Bopara nailing downEngland’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 Yorkshiresurprisingly declared at tea, there was never much hope of themdismissing Warwickshire in 36 overs on this surface. The declarationwas little more than a positive gesture.The result puts both teams into a mid-table position, though neitheryet have a win. Warwickshire extend their unbeaten Championship run to19 games, which sounds impressive, but they have won only one of theirlast 16 matches at home. Yorkshire, too, have only won twice since thestart of 2008, with both teams favouring a safety first approach. Fourday county cricket has become an attritional affair.Perhaps things might have been different if either side had taken alltheir catches. Most crucially, Gerard Brophy’s failure to cling on toJonathan Trott when the batsmen had just 26 on the third day may havecost his side the game. The risk of playing a batsman with littlewicket-keeping pedigree in such a key position has rarely been betterillustrated.As it was, Trott and Jeetan Patel extended their overnight partnershipto 233 in 47 overs. It is the ninth highest ninth-wicket partnershipin first-class history and overhauled the record for the wicketagainst Yorkshire. The previous mark was 160, added by Denys Wilcoxand 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, Patelbecame the first man to score a century on Warwickshire first-classdebut since Kumar Sangakkara in 2007. Patel’s was a chanceless affairthat 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 thehead of the bowler, he succeeded only in lofting an easy catch whichgifted Yorkshire a full allocation of bowling bonus points in the nickof time. Boyd Rankin soon followed, trapped in front by a yorker, toearn Yorkshire a first innings lead of 118. Trott, who faced little ofthe bowling on the final day, was left unbeaten on 161.Yorkshire soon built on their lead. Though Joe Sayers edged hisattempted drive, Jacques Rudolph again looked in fine touch, drivingChris Woakes fluently and cutting the disappointing Boyd Rankin out ofthe attack.Rikki Clarke delivered another impressive spell, however. Againgenerating sharp pace and steep bounce, Clarke ran in hard andtroubled all the batsmen. Rudolph sliced a drive to point beforeBrophy played across a straight one.Anthony McGrath added to his first-innings double-century, however,and with elegant support from Adil Rashid, allowed Yorkshire thechance to declare at tea.Warwickshire lost Tony Frost early, drawn into an edged drive, but IanBell and Ian Westwood resisted without undue alarm.Afterwards Ashley Giles played down any suggestion that 20-year-oldChris Woakes was close to an England call-up. “He’s developingbrilliantly,” Giles said, “but he’s still just a kid. We all have ourfeet on the ground and there’s no need to rush him.”These wickets at Edgbaston are very similar to Test wickets, so if hecan learn to bowl here it will stand him in good stead for later inhis career. We’ve a very inexperienced bowling attack, but we’vetalked about playing dogged cricket. We’ve shown our resilience onceagain in this game and if we can start to take our catches, we maystart winning a few matches.”
