SCARBOROUGH (third day of four): Yorkshire, with all second-innings wickets in hand, need 236 runs to beat Middlesex
THIS is the 120th Scarborough Festival but it can never have seen such an eventful day. Joe Sayers became only the thirteenth Yorkshire batsman to carry his bat since 1865, Chris Silverwood took five wickets against the county that still pays him, Ben Hutton scored a century in his first match since being laid low by shingles three months ago and, most significantly, two English leg spinners shared all ten wickets in Middlesex’s second innings.
Remember the names, because they offer great hope for the future. Mark Lawson, 20 and playing in only his twelfth championship match, took six for 86 and Adil Rashid, 18 and in his third game, four for 96 as Middlesex were bowled out for 224 to leave Yorkshire needing 275 runs to win a match that will almost certainly condemn the losers to relegation.
Yorkshire had started the day 103 runs behind with five wickets in hand but lost them all to the second new ball, Silverwood picking up four for 20 in 32 balls. He has now taken 13 wickets against them since they agreed to pay a percentage of his salary when he was released last season. Sayers was left unbeaten on 122 after batting for almost seven hours with concentration that Yorkshire have rarely seen since Geoff Boycott was carrying his bat no fewer than eight times.
Advertisement
It was a shame that Hutton, watched by his father, Richard, on the ground where his grandfather, Sir Leonard, scored 13 of his 129 centuries, could not carry his bat as well. He was the only Middlesex batsman to apply himself against the turning, bouncing ball.
Whether he had done enough remains to be seen. Middlesex, already missing Chad Keegan and Scott Styris with back trouble, have no one to spin the ball like Lawson and Rashid and they could only look longingly towards John Emburey, their director of cricket, when he made a brief appearance as a substitute.