Match report day 3: Hampshire v Yorkshire in Championship 2004 by John Ward

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Scorecard:

Hampshire v Yorkshire

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Overnight: Yorkshire 268/3 off 88 overs (Jaques 193*, Craven 15*)
Lunch: Yorkshire 385/8 off 121 overs (Silverwood 6*, Hoggard 0*)
Tea: Yorkshire 395; Hampshire 90/3 off 31 overs (Crawley 28*, Clarke 20*)
Close: Hampshire 202/6 off 62 overs (Pothas 18*, Udal 14*).

 

The third day’s play at the Rose Bowl saw the match as a contest still very much alive, and highlighted by a record innings from Phil Jaques and a notable return to bowling form by Allan Mullally. At the end of it, the crucial Hampshire struggle to save the follow-on, and Yorkshire’s need to enforce it, dominated everything. They will need a further 44 runs on the final morning, with four wickets left to do it.

 

A square cut for four off Chris Tremlett, off the first ball he received of the day, took Jaques to the highest individual innings score on the Rose Bowl Ground. He overtook Murray Goodwin’s 195, scored for Sussex in the ground’s first year of operation, in 2001. Five balls later, he attempted another cut, got a bottom edge that shot through the slips for four, and reached his double-century.

 

Jaques had not often cut over the previous two days, and the Hampshire bowlers forced him to play more on the off side this time. But he did play the occasional handsome off-drive, with a punch rather than a flourish, and then when Tremlett tried to bounce him he hooked two fours in an over with both power and timing.

 

Victor Craven continued with his dour supporting role, and it took almost 50 minutes before he recorded his first boundary, a front-foot drive wide of mid-on. Jaques was now into new territory, having passed his previous highest score of 222 for Northamptonshire – against Yorkshire! – in 2003. He now sought to increase the scoring rate, driving more flamboyantly and moving down the pitch to the seamers on occasion to drive them off the front foot.

 

On 243 he finally played one shot too many, driving over a yorker from Allan Mullally and having his off stump knocked out of the ground. His superb innings contained 33 fours and 6 sixes, and he had faced 298 balls in 411 minutes. With Craven he had added 134 in 43 overs.

 

The Yorkshire innings then seemed to lose its way. Craven (41) fell soon after to a good catch by the wicketkeeper Nic Pothas, despite going the wrong way, off Mullally, a laboured but valuable innings. Yorkshire were 354 for five.

 

The innings continued its slow course, with Yorkshire presumably chasing full batting points. Mullally struck again when Andy Gray (10) hooked at a short ball and got a fine edge to the keeper; 365 for six, and this was Mullally’s 700th wicket in first-class cricket. At 378 Mullally dismissed Simon Guy, trying to hit him cross-bat and holding out to mid-on for 13.

 

Chris Silverwood added some rare aggression by getting off the mark with a six back over Shaun Udal’s head. Yorkshire needed those runs quickly if they were to reach 400 within 130 overs, but then lost Richard Dawson, trying to cut the wrong ball from Mullally and being bowled for 7; 385 for eight.

 

After lunch, Yorkshire still needed six for that final batting point when Matthew Hoggard (1) was caught at the wicket off Udal. A run later umpire Alan Whitehead dispatched Steve Kirby lbw to Mullally without scoring and Yorkshire, all out for 395, missed their fifth batting point. Silverwood was left unbeaten with 11.

 

Mullally finished with six wickets for 68 runs off 31.4 overs, a fine performance as he ripped through the middle order, but even that paled in comparison to Jaques’ superb 243 out of 395 – 61.5% of the innings total and 66.2% of the runs off the bat; one more run and he would have outscored the sum of his ten partners’ contributions by a ratio of exactly two to one.

 

Yorkshire’s hopes of victory rested almost entirely – excluding the possibility of bad weather - on their ability or otherwise to enforce the follow-on, so Hampshire’s immediate target was therefore 246. Hoggard, on one of his rare appearances for Yorkshire, soon struck with a lifting delivery that made Michael Brown whip a hand off his bat, but not in time to prevent an edge that was well gathered low to his right by wicketkeeper Guy. He scored 1, and Hampshire were 5 for one.

 

Derek Kenway made 12 before he was out to a rank bad ball from Kirby, a leg-side ball that the batsmen flicked at, and umpire Nigel Cowley gave him his marching orders; 22 for two.

 

John Crawley and Will Kendall dug in but never looked comfortable, though Crawley managed to play the occasional class stroke. It was the medium-paced change bowler Craven who took the next wicket, as Kendall (15) tried to pull him and skyed a catch to square leg Chris Taylor; 55 for three.

 

Michael Clarke, on 3, enjoyed a life as Guy, whose mixed season continues, dived in front of first slip as he edged Hoggard, but was unable to hold a difficult chance. He and Crawley saw the hundred come up shortly after tea and the partnership was looking threatening for Yorkshire’s hopes when Kirby had Clarke (27) caught low by Dawson at first slip; 119 for four. Kirby was bowling rather better than he has done in recent matches for Yorkshire.

 

Crawley battled on to his fifty, which he reached with a cover-driven boundary off Kirby, but then, on 53, he walked across his stumps to try to play Craven through midwicket, and was trapped lbw; 137 for five. He faced 131 balls and hit 7 fours. It was a crucial blow and kept Yorkshire well on track for enforcing the follow-on.

 

The game slowed. Pothas seemed quite unable to score, but Mascarenhas finally took advantage of some short bowling by Craven to crash three fours through the off side. Then Pothas finally got moving with a four through midwicket off Silverwood, after 41 minutes at the crease. Slowly they increased the score, but once again a promising stand failed to mature; having put on 45 together, Mascarenhas was trapped lbw by Hoggard for 22.

 

Udal came in and soon hit Dawson high into the stands beyond midwicket for six. He was still there with the dour Pothas at the close, carrying Hampshire’s hopes of saving the follow-on and, with it, probably the match.

 

(Article: Copyright © 2004 John Ward)