To schedule the second Roses match 11 days after the end of the first seems like a careless piece of planning. It scarcely allows time to bind the wounded and buff up the enmities before the next bout of trans-Pennine rivalry gets under way.
However, Ben Coad probably does not give a stale Eccles cake about such things. Having had a moderate match in the draw at Emirates Old Trafford, the 23-year-old Yorkshire seamer took a career-best six for 25 at Headingley yesterday as his side dismissed Lancashire for 123 before reducing that deficit to 30 runs for the loss of two wickets by the close.
Supported and inspired by some consistently probing left-arm bowling by Ryan Sidebottom, who removed Alex Davies and Luke Procter with successive balls in the seventh over, Coad made Lancashire’s decision to bat first on a helpful pitch and in cloudy conditions look ever more bizarre. He took his first four wickets for 16 runs in a seven-over spell during which his accuracy, bounce and movement regularly flummoxed Steven Croft’s batsmen.
His initial quartet of victims included Haseeb Hameed, who was caught behind by Andy Hodd for nine when just failing to cover Coad’s movement off the pitch, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who was surprised by the bounce of a ball on an off-stump line and could only thick-edge a catch to Peter Handscomb at fourth slip.
Croft and Dane Vilas were Coad’s other victims during a spell in which he demolished Lancashire’s top-order batting, yet it reflects his rapid development over the past two months that one is no longer surprised by his incision or obvious quality.
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Coad has now taken 29 wickets in seven County Championship innings for his county and he has dismissed five or more batsmen in four of those innings. The Harrogate-born player is the joint leading wicket-taker in Division One.
It is some achievement for a cricketer who was by no means certain to have a starting place in his county’s four-day side in April and who had taken two first-class wickets before the season began.
“We couldn’t have asked for anything more today and I think that’s the best I’ve bowled this season,” said Coad. “Obviously the pitch has benefited me massively and the overhead conditions helped me out but I’m very happy with that.
“It is a great feeling to be bowling as I am at the moment and I do know there are times when it’s going to be tough, so I am just loving cricket at the minute.”
Coad may well have gone from being the 11th name written on Gary Ballance’s team-sheet to being one of the first and such rapid progress should eventually win him a place in the England Lions squad. Unsurprisingly, though, Dickie Bird, Yorkshire’s former president, went a step further yesterday and said that he would pick Coad for next month’s first Test against South Africa.
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That series may also be on the mind of Hameed, for whom these are important weeks. The attention of the cricket world may be tightly focused on the 50-over game but the Lancashire opener knows full well that the Test series begins at Lord’s in 33 days.
Yet Hameed has now scored 16 runs in his past five Division One innings and averages 15.42 in the County Championship.
At least he could take comfort yesterday afternoon from the assessment that his fine judgment and composure seem to be returning and that it took a very good ball to dismiss him. The latter view may not be of much consolation, though.
Hameed has a maximum of seven innings in which to score the runs he needs to secure his place in Joe Root’s team.
Other Lancashire cricketers also had to settle for scraps yesterday. Ryan McLaren and Stephen Parry battled hard against the current to make 30 runs apiece while Tom Bailey and Procter took a wicket apiece when Yorkshire replied.
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But the sight of Adam Lyth batting fluently to make 40 not out, his highest championship score of the season, before play ended 8.2 overs early was a clear reminder of where the overwhelming dominance lies in the match.
In other news...
8 Bowlers used by Worcestershire against Sussex at Hove — but none of them took more than one wicket. The home side, captained by Chris Nash after the resignation of Luke Wright on Thursday, ran up 339 for three by the close.
6 Wickets taken by Nathan Buck for Northamptonshire v Durham — the first time, in his 71st first-class game, he had taken more than five in an innings. He took six for 34 as Durham were bowled out for 166.
160 Sean Ervine’s unbeaten century for Hampshire against Warwickshire was his highest first-class score for more than seven years, since he made 237 against Somerset in May 2010. It helped Hampshire to 294 for three by the close.