Yorkshire-Middlesex game ends in high-scoring draw
Yorkshire opener Adam Lyth scored two half-centuries in the match at Headingley
- Published
Vitality County Championship Division Two, Headingley (day four)
Yorkshire 601-6 dec: Hill 169*, Bairstow 160, Lyth 61, Bess 60* & 150-2: Lyth 62
Middlesex 522: Higgins 155, Robson 108; Bess 7-179
Yorkshire (13 pts) drew with Middlesex (11 pts)
Promotion rivals Middlesex and Yorkshire will head into the final three games of the County Championship Division Two season separated by just one point after a high-scoring draw at Headingley.
Middlesex started the final day on 441-5 in reply to Yorkshire’s 601-6 declared. They reached the follow-on target of 452 comfortably before being bowled out for 522, Ryan Higgins with 155 as former England off-spinner Dom Bess finished with 7-179 from a marathon 70.4 overs.
Yorkshire reached 150-2 before bad light stopped play, with James Wharton on 50 not out after Adam Lyth had made 62 - his second half-century of the match.
Despite conceding 522, with Sam Robson’s 108 supporting the in-form Higgins, Yorkshire bowled tidily led by spinners Bess and Moriarty who each bowled more overs (131.4 between them) than they had ever previously done in a first-class innings.
Despite still being 11 runs short of the follow-on target when they resumed, there were no alarms for Middlesex during the early stages of a day played out under floodlights.
Bess had Luke Hollman caught at second slip by Jonny Bairstow – one-handed at the third attempt – leaving Middlesex 441-6.
Higgins reached 150 off 252 balls – of his five Championship centuries this season, four have been above 150. But he soon saw his off and middle stumps uprooted by Coad, who also bowled Toby Roland-Jones to finish with 3-54.
Bess then wrapped up the innings by getting Tom Helm caught at short-leg and Noah Cornwell brilliantly taken by a diving Jordan Thompson as he ran back from mid-off.
Lyth, needing 105 to follow Higgins to 1,000 Championship runs for the season, reached his fifty in 63 balls but fell short of a century when he drove Helm’s seam to short cover on the verge of tea.
Fin Bean was trapped lbw by Hollman’s leg-spin for 30, before Wharton reached an aggressive half-century shortly before the players left the field for bad light.
Match report by ECB Reporters' Network.
Yorkshire coach Ottis Gibson told BBC Radio Leeds:
“It was a difficult four days, I guess, for everybody - even those watching. We wanted a pitch that spun, and it did spin. But it was low and it was slow. I’d imagine the cricket wasn’t amazing to watch.
“A couple of weeks ago, I said to you, ‘If we think about our promotion drive, if we win and don’t lose against Sussex and Middlesex, we’ll still get promoted’. So, having drawn that game, it gives us a great chance.
“There’s only one point in it between ourselves and Middlesex with three games to go, and they have to go and play Sussex in the last game of the season. It might turn out to be a dogfight between us and them because Sussex have a bit of a lead.
“It was great to see Jonny get some runs. I was always sure he was going to get runs after the phone call he had a few days before. We’ve just had a chat now, Jonny and I, and he’s going to be available for the next game. That’s great for us. He didn’t keep in this match because he got a small knock on the finger, but it’s nothing serious. We have two keepers, so there was no need to risk it. But Jonny then goes and fields in the slips and under the helmet. That’s Jonny for you!”
Middlesex captain Toby Roland-Jones:
“Getting asked to bowl first, they batted particularly well and made life tricky. But I’m proud of our efforts to grind it out and endure as we did.
"Once you’re in that position, bat in hand with 600 on the board, it’s a case of putting together as many small wins and partnerships as possible. we did that excellently, making sure we didn’t lose wickets in clusters.
“They batted themselves into that position and our main job is that you don’t want to feel defensive in what you’re doing. That was the main thing that stuck out.
“It should be a really exciting three weeks. It’s where you want to be at the end of the season. Fingers crossed we can keep playing a positive brand of cricket and come out on the right side of things.”
