Match reports.
Monday 19th/Tuesday 20th August 2019 - 2 day friendly vs Lancashire at Middleton CC
Yorkshire U14A 1st Innings 257-7 (80 overs) (Zak Jahangir 65*; Lachlan Doidge 55; Alex Cree 34)
Lancashire U14 1st Innings 266 all out (75.2 overs) (Lachlan Doidge 4-83)
Yorkshire U14A 2nd Innings 85-2 (35 overs) (Isaac Light 35; Alex Cree 34*)
Game finished in a draw with Lancashire winning the first innings.
Overnight rain meant a wet Middleton CC greeted the 2 squads for the 2 day U14 Roses clash. Lancashire won the toss and elected to bowl first on a used pitch. Openers Alex Cree and Sam Spenceley strode out to the middle and faced up to some impressive seam bowling on a pitch that offered some assistance and had low bounce. Spenceley was bowled for 5 in the 4th over, bringing Will Nicholson to the crease and, alongside Cree, withstood some excellent Lancashire bowling before he squirted a wide ball to gully for 6 and was shortly followed by Cree - smartly stumped for 34. Leo Diffey and Lachlan Doidge counter attacked and put the pressure back on the Lancashire spin bowlers before Diffey fell for 28, top edging a full toss shortly after the rain break. Doidge pressed on in his typically aggressive style, reaching his 50 before chipping one to cover shortly after for 55. Zak Jahangir played an extremely mature and technically sound innings alongside skipper Isaac Coates (20) and Isaac Light (17) before stepping on the gas towards the end of the allotted 80 overs, alongside Elias Smith (12*), finishing on a impressive 65* to take Yorkshire to 257-7 from their 80 overs on a tough pitch. This left the Lancashire openers with a tricky 16 over spell to navigate before the end of play on day 1, Smith and Coates struck in the session, reducing Lancs to 31-2 at the close of play.
More overnight rain once again plagued the Middleton CC pitch, but this didn't stop the bowlers going about their work impressively, with Diffey removing the night watchmen early on followed by some tidy work from Caleb Bradford in the field to effect the run out of Lancashire's opener, who was looking solid. Spinners Doidge and Bradford found their rhythm and built some pressure on the Lancashire batsmen, with Doidge bowling Sultan the over before lunch, leaving Lancashire 140-5 and the first innings game in the balance. Some impressive batting from Fonseka and a slight dip in the outstanding Yorkshire standards to date in this fixture saw the game go away from the lads before some excellent spin bowling again from Doidge and Bradford saw Lancashire bowled out for 266 in 75.2 overs; with Doidge finishing with impressive figures of 19.2-4-83-4. Lancashire won the first innings game.
Yorkshire then came out for their second innings with 45 overs left in the game. Unfortunately, due to seamers Diffey and Coates picking up injuries in the field, the ability to try set up a run chase for Lancashire was unrealistic, so Yorkshire opted to bat out to save the game with Light (34), Cree (34*) and Nicholson (13*) playing with great discipline to see Yorkshire finish with a losing draw. A great improvement shown from the Yorkshire lads in what was a tough 2 days of cricket for both teams, played in an excellent spirit.
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Sunday 25th/Monday 26th August 2019 - 2 day friendly vs Warwickshire U14 at Honley CC
Yorkshire U14A 1st Innings 68 all out (34.4 overs)
Warwickshire U14 1st Innings 214 all out (91.1 overs) (Lachlan Doidge 4-66; Charlie McMurran 2-14; Caleb Bradford 2-35)
Yorkshire U14A 2nd Innings 170-8 (65.5 overs) (Isaac Coates 48; Lachlan Doidge 32*)
Match drawn with Warwickshire winning the first innings game.
The sun finally greeted the lads upon arrival at a fixture at the beautiful Honley CC for what was to be a tough 2 days of cricket in the heat which had been forecast. Skipper Sam Spenceley won the toss and elected to bat first, which was unfortunately where the good news ended for the morning session. The Yorkshire batsmen made a number of all too similar mistakes in response to some disciplined bowling from the Warwickshire bowlers; in particular the left arm spin of Srikanthan, whose accuracy was rewarded with 6-16 as the innings ended on 68 all out just after the lunch break. An injury to George Crowther further added to the woes.
The squad needed to bounce back quickly to stay in the game and the bowlers did just that; with some excellent, disciplined new ball bowling from Elias Smith and Matthew Simms, making his first A team appearance of the year. The introduction of the spin trio of Caleb Bradford, Lachlan Doidge and Will Chapman, and some excellent fielding saw the pressure begin to build on the Warkwickshire batsmen as the day progressed; Lancashire ending 6 down with a lead of 80. A nice stand out moment was when the tea break fell just at the right time for all the players, officials and supporters to enjoy Ben Stokes hitting the winning runs in the Headingley Ashes test during the tea break.
Following an open and honest discussion at the close of play on day 1, coach Tom Craddock asked for a response from the squad with the aim to be batting before lunch to stay in the game. The lads duly delivered as Lachlan Doidge finished with figures of 4-66 and Matthew Simms picked up his first A team wicket of the year to finish off the tail. However the plaudits for the morning session had to go to Charlie McMurran, who was drafted in at the eleventh hour on Sunday after being at the Ashes test match to come in as a replacement for the injured George Crowther on day 2. He rose to the occasion and carried on his form from the Development team, by bowling an outstanding spell of swing bowling to trouble the Warwickshire batsmen, ending with 2-14 from his 6 overs. Warwickshire were finally bowled out for 214, with a lead of 166 runs.
A tricky half hour session before lunch awaited opening batsmen Joe Barker (making his A team debut) and skipper Sam Spenceley. Barker fell in the first over, bringing Will Chapman to the crease who, alongside Spenceley safely navigated the rest of the session to take Yorkshire to the lunch break. The team talk from coach Cradds was simple: bat out the day and save the game. The early loss of Spenceley followed the break and brought Isaac Coates to the crease for his last innings of the 2019 season. Alongside Chapman, the two batsmen curbed their natural scoring intent to blunt the Warwickshire bowling - almost lasting the session before Chapman fell driving for 25 - which was quickly followed by the loss of Jahangir, leaving the lads with a lot of work to do to save the game. Following the tea interval, Coates and Cree went about their work before Cree fell LBW and Coates squirted a wide yorker to gully for an exceptional 48. Light and Doidge counter attacked, scoring quickly to give Yorkshire a small lead. The fall of Light and Elias Smith in quick succession towards the end of play gave Warwickshire a glimmer of hope of forcing a victory, however Doidge remained resilient on 34* to salvage a draw from the fixture -although they lost the first innings game. Some great resolve and character had been shown from the squad on day 2 to save the game. Special mention also goes to Honley CC for their exceptional hospitality and to the Warwickshire squad for a hard fought game, played in great spirit.
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Wednesday 28th September 2019 - Yorkshire U14A v Nottinghamshire U14 at Treeton CC
Nottinghamshire U14 249-7 (49 overs) (Charlie McMurran 3-44: Will Chapman 2-43)
Yorkshire U14A 42-2 (10 overs) (revised total of 248 from 46 overs)
Nottinghamshire U14 won (DLS)
Yorkshire welcomed Nottinghamshire to Treeton CC for their fixture - at the third time of asking, following 2 rearrangements due to the weather. Skipper Sam Spenceley won the toss and elected to field first. Charlie McMurran continued his good from from the previous 2 dayer, picking up an early wicket, caught behind by Isaac Light. Khadoo and Notts skipper McCann took the attack back to the Yorkshire bowling before the latter fell for 22, bowled by Lachlan Doidge. Notts continued to attack, targeting the shorter straight boundary, pushing the score along before the introduction of Will Chapman slowed the run rate with an excellent spell of 2-43 from his 10 overs. Towards the back end of the innings, the heavens opened with the rain getting heavier, making it extremely difficult for the bowlers to grip the ball. Faced with an onslaught from the Notts lower order the score accelerated to 249-7 before the umpires decided the rain had continued for too long and brought the players off.
An early tea was taken during the rain delay with 5 overs being lost (1 from the Nottinghamshire innings and 4 from the Yorkshire innings) - meaning Yorkshire had a revised target of 248 from their 46 overs. Openers Alex Cree and Noah Kelly got things off to a solid start, reaching 37 as the rain came back again, before Cree fell LBW in the 8th over. With DLS in play, the par score at 10 overs (10 overs per innings needed to constitute a game) jumped from 30-0 to 42-1. Yorkshire were on 41-1 at 9.5 overs in torrential rain. Noah Kelly mistimed a drive and called Sabir Mahmood for a single before being run out attempting the second to take them ahead on DLS. The umpires then brought the players off for rain, meaning Yorkshire were now behind on DLS with the par score jumping to 56-3 at 10 overs following the run out. The rain prevented any further play meaning Nottinghamshire won on DLS. Sunday's final ECB fixture against Derbyshire is now a must win for the Yorkshire boys to stand any chance of progressing to the national competition next year.
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