- July fixtures in focus!
Tuesday 11th July Cleveland Away: This fixture would have given been the opportunity to look at some new players but alas the weather ruined the day and no play was possible. Marton CC do however provide the most amazing pulled pork sandwiches so thank you to them for the hospitality.
Sunday 16th July: v Californian Cricket Association at Ampleforth College. This fixture was added in to the squads calendar at fairly shorty notice but gave us an opportunity to play an opposition we knew little about at a great facility. Joe Smith was captain on the day he won the toss asked the CCA to bat first on a green wicket, posting 132 all out in 43.3 overs. Top scorer was Aman Patel with 64, Robert Heyes picked up 4-26 from 7.3, Joe Smith 2-16 from 6 James Kelly 2-22 from 9 and Joe Holderness 1-12 from 4. Following a Roast Beef and Yorkshire’s Sunday lunch, Josh Megson provided the back bone of the Yorkshire innings with 70 not out from 97 balls. Joe Holderness with 16, Tom Starkey 14 and a few extras secured a Yorkshire victory in the 32nd over.
Thursday 20th July v Warwickshire at Wellesbourne CC Warwick. Following some of the worst road conditions experienced for a long time and a very steady three and a half hour journey the coaches arrived at a wet Wellesbourne CC. The club were fantastic hosts and their ground dried very quickly, allowing us to start the match at noon with 40 overs per side. A strong Warwickshire team presented a good challenge for a young Yorkshire side who on winning the toss chose to field first. All the bowlers got a run out and performed adequately on a reasonably helpful wicket that turned a lot. Spinners Joe Smith 2-32 from 8 and James Kelly 2-25 from his 8 doing a good job in the middle overs. Sam Barraclough with 1-21 from 8 and Robert Heyes 1-16 from 4.4 were the pick of the seamers, with Sams control in the last few overs a delight to watch. Warwickshire finished on 143-7 from 40 overs.In reply wickets fell quite steadily with no batsman being able to build a match wining innings. Despite Joe Holderness 17, Tom Starkey 12, Tom Dowson 23, Joe Smith 21 and James Kelly 12 Yorkshire fell short finishing on 128 all out.
Sunday 23rd July versus Wales at Menai Bridge CC: In an idyllic setting, over looking the Menai Straights with Mount Snowdon as a back drop, the club offered a fantastic venue for a county age group fixture (see picture). The match was listed as a red ball 50 over match, but was played as a 50 over white ball in coloured clothing. A damaged finger to skipper, but a toss won resulted in a strong Wales side being asked to bat first. Yorkshire's Opening bowlers Ed Booth and Sam Barraclough ran in with purpose and bowled with intent and skill, the skill being trying to control the white ball that was swinging round corners. Ed Booth removed two Wales batters for 4 and 0, then Sam Barraclough took over decimating the Wales batting line up in a spell of 6-0-12-6. Three bowled, two caught behind the wicket and one caught at cover showed how effective he was with the new white ball. Wales recovered from 28-8 to a score of 98 all out. In reply, the Wales bowlers made it very difficult for the Yorkshire top order with early wickets reducing the side to 25 –5. Tom Dowson joined Robert Heyes and the pair saw off the remainder of the new ball before growing in authority to get the score board ticking over with Tom Dowson finishing on 30 not out and Robert Heyes on 35 not out, winning the match in the 30th over to complete a five wicket win.
Following this win an impromptu T20 game followed in which Yorkshire batting first posted a competitive 117-7, Heyes with 22, Marley Ward with 27 not out, Joe Holderness 18 Josh Chisholm 13 being the main contributors. In reply Wales demonstrated their experience of the T20 format,with good shot selection and placement taking them on course for a straightforward victory. A Yorkshire fight back saw Robert Heyes 1-18 from his 4 overs, Ed Booth with 1-18 off 3.4, and Sam Barraclough at it again (2-16 from four), his last two overs - the 17th & 19th - going for one run, with one wide and one wicket. This took the match to the final over with Wales needing five to win, which they did off the second ball to secure a 5 wicket victory.