JASON GILLESPIE says a thrilling third day fightback with the ball during Yorkshire’s drawn LV= County Championship match against Somerset proved exactly why the Tykes are champions.
An exhilarating final day of the season saw Yorkshire bowled out for 365 in their second innings having been 148-2, which set the visitors a target of 182 in 44 overs after tea.
And Somerset had advanced steadily to 62-1 in the 15th over as Gillespie’s side stared down at the barrel at a potential second defeat of 2014.
But, led by three wickets for Jack Brooks, they hit back in style to reduce the score to 135-9 in the 38th before just failing to sneak home in a tense finish in front of a healthy crowd to see Andrew Gale re-presented with the trophy by Dickie Bird.
Somerset finished on 151-9 and Brooks with 68 wickets for the season, a club record in the era of two division cricket.
“It was an awesome day’s cricket,” said coach Gillespie.
“Somerset probably had the advantage, especially when they bowled us out and had a 181-run lead. It was Somerset’s game to take, but I think we showed why we finished top this year.
“We spoke at tea and said ‘we’ve got a great chance to win a game of cricket here’. Maybe the public didn’t think so, but there was a lot of belief there. The boys felt they had a genuine chance.
“It came right down to the final over to see if we could get a win. It’s a great four days of cricket.”
Yorkshire lost their last six wickets for 52 runs during the afternoon to slip from 313-5, including captain Joe Root for 97. Somerset then collapsed themselves, losing wickets four, five and six in four balls with the score on 83.
Last pair Alfonso Thomas and Jamie Overton held on for 6.1 overs.
Gale, having missed out on being presented with the trophy at Trent Bridge, was then handed the trophy at the end of the match by president Bird.
The club’s captain is expected to be cleared of his racism charge by the ECB imminently, with Gillespie adding: “It’s been a challenging time in the last couple of weeks for him, but we’re fully behind Galey as a club, 150 per cent.
“For him to be able to lead the team out was fantastic.”
SCOREBOARD
LV= County Championship division one
Yorkshire v Somerset
at Headingley Carnegie
Yorkshire First Innings 253 (A Z Lees 83, J A Leaning 57no).
Somerset 437 (N Compton 156; A U Rashid 4-116, S A Patterson 4-54).
Yorkshire Second Innings
A Lyth c Groenewald b Trego 51
A Z Lees c Kieswetter b Trego 23
G S Ballance lbw b Trego 69
J E Root b Leach 97
J M Bairstow c Kieswetter b Overton 49
J A Leaning c Hildreth b Trego 28
A U Rashid c Kieswetter b Trego 11
R M Pyrah st Kieswetter b Leach 11
S A Patterson b Trego 4
R J Sidebottom c Trescothick b Trego 0
J A Brooks not out 0
Extras (b4 lb16 w2) 22
Total (94.3 overs) 365
Fall: 1-44 2-121 3-178 4-288 5-313 6-330 7-349 8-353 9-365.
Bowling: Thomas 5-0-23-0, Trego 28.3-6-84-7, Overton 13-0-61-1, Groenewald 16-1-62-0, Leach 24-2-88-2, Myburgh 8-2-27-0.
Somerset Second Innings
M E Trescothick c Sub b A U Rashid 44
J G Myburgh c Pyrah b Sidebottom 1
N R D Compton b Brooks 18
J C Hildreth run out 9
C Kieswetter lbw b Patterson 3
T B Abell c A U Rashid b Brooks 34
P D Trego b Brooks 0
T D Groenewald c Bairstow b Sidebottom 1
M J Leach st Bairstow b A U Rashid 8
J Overton not out 12
A C Thomas not out 8
Extras (lb13) 13
Total 9 wkts (44 overs) 151
Fall: 1-7 2-62 3-74 4-83 5-83 6-83 7-110 8-121 9-135.
Bowling: Sidebottom 11-4-24-2, Brooks 14-4-46-3, Patterson 9-4-15-1, A U Rashid 10-2-53-2.
Yorkshire drew with Somerset
Final division one table
P W L D Ba Bo Pts
Yorkshire 16 8 1 7 48 44 255
Warwickshire 16 8 4 4 47 43 238
Sussex 16 6 4 6 44 40 210
Nottinghamshire 16 6 6 4 50 40 206
Durham 16 5 4 7 42 42 199
Somerset 16 4 2 10 42 42 198
Middlesex 16 4 5 7 35 38 170
Lancashire 16 3 6 7 30 41 150
Northants 16 0 12 4 27 32 79
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