Yorkshire Vikings Metro Bank Cup at Welbeck CC, John Fretwell Sporting Complex Win 2 pts

 

JAMES AND HUTTON SHINE IN THE WELBECK SUN

Notts made it two wins out of two in their Welbeck Weekender beating Yorkshire by 83 runs in gloriously sunny conditions at the John Fretwell Sports Centre today.

Yorkshire won the toss and elected to bowl in front of a crowd of around 1,600. Notts named an unchanged team. Sammy King was allowed to play for Norfolk in their three-day National Counties fixture versus Northumberland at Jesmond.

As ever at Welbeck the wicket gave the seamers plenty of assistance early doors with Ben Coad bowling an outstanding 10 over spell straight through from the Spion Kop End. He opened with a wide. A dot ball followed and off the second ball Slater edged him to Duke behinds stumps. Off the fifth delivery, Haynes attempting to shouldered arms edged the ball onto his middle stump to make it three ducks in a row for the former Worcestershire right-hander; 1 for 2. Leech conceded eight of the second over including a cover driven boundary for Hameed. Leech conceded 10 runs off the 4th over with boundaries for Hameed and McCann. Hill came on for the 6th over to make it Benny from one end and Hill from the other. McCann (8) had his off peg knocked back by Coad; 24 for 3 off 7.1 overs. The last two overs of the powerplay were maidens. Notts 25 for 3 after 10 overs.

Notts were completely bogged down, Hameed managing to loft a boundary through covers off Hill in the 12th over but they were dealing mainly in a smattering of singles. Montgomery (4) lasted 31 balls before edging Coad to Bean who took the catch at second slip; 40-4 off 15 overs.

James cover drove Hill to the ropes in the 16th over. Slow left-armer Moriarty replaced Hill for the 18th over, a single for James bringing up the Notts 50. Coad (10-3-14-4) had bowled his overs straight through. An outstanding effort from the 30-year-old right arm seamer. Notts struggling at 55-4 off 20 overs.

Leech replaced Coad from the Spion Kop End and he had Hameed (32 off 65 balls, 4x4) caught behind by Duke off Leech; 60 for 5 in the 23rd over. Bess was introduced in the 24th over. James pulled Leech for six over long leg. Notts 75-5 off 25 overs.

Revis came on for the 26th over. James cover drove Leech (6-1-48-1) for successive boundaries and then a dot ball followed. James completed the over with two straight driven fours. Seventeen off the 27th over. The first sign of a Notts fightback. Moriarty switched ends for the 29th over, a three by Moores down to third man bringing up the Notts three figures. A swept four by Moores down to fine leg brought up the 50 partnership for the 6th wicket. James pulled Revis for a boundary and then for successive fours through backward point and third man as he passed a fine 50 off 47 balls. Twelve off the 32nd over. Moores (23 off 37 balls, 1x4) had curbed his natural attacking instincts but then frustratingly holed out to long on off Moriarty, Bess taking the catch. Notts 133 for 6 after 33 overs. The 6th wicket had added 73 in 10.3 overs with James very much the aggressor. The innings then lost momentum Notts only adding a further 34 runs in 11 overs following Moores dismissal.

James pulled Revis to the backward square leg boundary in the following over. James straight drove the expensive Revis (6-0-31-0) to the boundary in the 36th over. Bess came back for the 38th over. Notts 159 for 6 off 40 overs.

Moriarty (10-0-38-1) completed his spell in the 41st over. James (76 off 80 balls, 10x4, 1x6), who had latterly got bogged down by the all-spin attack, was caught at long on by Revis off off-spinner Bess; 162-7 in the 42nd over. An invaluable innings, James loves batting at the venue three of his four List A half-tons scored at Sookholme having scored 54 and 71 versus Surrey in 2022 and 2023.

Patterson-White was dropped on 8 by Masood at mid-wicket off Bess and he started very slowly before suddenly bursting into life. In the 46th over, Patterson-White reverse swept Bess to the boundary. In the following over, Patterson-White pulled Hill for six over backward square leg. He followed it up with a four through mid-wicket. Patterson-White was caught at deep square leg off a no ball. The 200 came up via a six over backward square leg by Patterson-White; 22 off the 47th over. Hutton (10) switched hit Bess (7-0-26-3) straight to Bean on the point ropes, 204 for 8 in the 48th over. Fletcher swept his first ball to the square leg ropes but perished next ball caught on the mid-wicket ropes by Luxton; 208 for 9. Pettman was comprehensively bowled by Hill (9.4-1-47-1) for a 6-ball duck. Notts 209 all out off 48.4 overs with Patterson-White stranded from the strike for 11 balls on 38 not out (off 38 balls, 2x4, 2x6). Notts had done well to recover from 60-5 but their final score, given previous history of matches at Welbeck looked 30 runs short of a competitive total. Batting normally gets easier as the day progresses. The warm and sunny conditions further aiding batting.

How wrong we were. Hutton bowling from the opposite end to Coad from the Charlie French End proved how much Notts have missed him over the last three months by bowling straight through and removing six of the first seven Yorkshire batsmen.

Luxton cover drove Fletcher (Spion Kop End) to the boundary in the opening over. A mistimed pull shot by Luxton (4) off Hutton saw him gently sky the ball straight into Moores gloves: 7 for 1. A short ball from Fletcher was pulled by Bean to the square leg boundary. Yorkshire skipper Shan Masood played on a Hutton delivery onto his leg stump via his pads to depart for his second golden duck against Notts in nine days; 13 for 2. In all forms of cricket against Notts in 6 matches, Masood has scored 103 runs @14.71. Not his favourite opposition. Like Simpson on Friday, this was the key wicket.

Bean on drove Fletcher for four in the 5th over. Bean (18) facing Hutton went for a suicidal run to Hameed at mid-off who made no mistake in hitting the stumps, 26 for 3 in the 8th over. A very daft dismissal. Pettman replaced Fletcher in the 9th over and first ball was hit to the point ropes by Hill. Wharton edged Pettman for four through the slips. Hill (1) was lbw to Hutton. Duke (0) fell the same way with Hutton picking up his second wicket in three balls. A carbon copy of the previous dismissal Hutton getting the ball to nip back. Yorkshire in disarray at 39 for 5 after 10 overs.

Revis (7) hit Hutton to the point ropes but fell next ball with Hutton bowling him off stump, the delivery appearing to keep low; 49 for 6 in the 14th over. In his next over, Hutton knocked back Bess’ off stump who fell for a 4-ball duck; 53 for 7 in the 16th over. Fletcher came back and took a wicket with his first ball having Wharton (23) caught at the second attempt by Hameed at mid-on. Yorkshire 53 for 8 in the 17th over. Number nine bat, Coad (31 off 24 balls, 6x4) followed his outstanding bowling up front by becoming the Tykes top scorer adding 53 in 10.2 overs with Leech to double the Yorkshire score with batting become easier once the white balls had loss their shine.

Coad cover drove Fletcher to the boundary and two balls later pulled him for four through square leg. Leech hit Hutton four just wide off the diving Hameed at mid-on. Coad hit Hutton (with superlative figures of 10-2-38-6) to the point ropes. The tiring Hutton conceding 14 off last two overs. Yorkshire 78 for 8 after 20 overs.

Patterson-White replaced Hutton from the Charlie French End. Pettman replaced Fletcher (7-1-29-1) for the 23rd over. Leech swept Patterson-White for two fours through square leg. Nine off the 24th over. The Yorkshire 100 came up in the 25th over via a two for Leech off Pettman (6-2-19-0) in the 25th over.

Coad hit Patterson-White to the mid-wicket ropes to bring up the 50 partnership in the 26th over. James had his first bowl in the 27th over and he had Coad caught by Moores diving to his right, 106 for 9. The last wicket pair added a further 20 runs. Moriarty hit Patterson-White for six over mid-wicket in the 30th over. Moriarty was dropped on 10 by Montgomery at slip off Patterson-White (5-0-27-0). Yorkshire 121 for 9 off 30 overs.

Moriarty hit James for four through backward point but then two balls later at 16:59 Leech played on to his middle stump, with James (2.5-0-11-2) claiming another scalp. Yorkshire 126 all out off 30.5 overs.

Notts third in the Group B table had gained an unexpected win over one of the more fancied teams in their 9-team Division. They were indebted to James, who played probably his most attacking innings for Notts and a late cameo from Patterson-White to give them something to bowl at. Hutton though bowled superbly, a different bowler than what we saw bowl so gingerly at Lincoln a week before. Notts have sure missed him. They are a different side with his inclusion in the Eleven. MAG

Announced squad:

Friday's XI

Ben Slater

Freddie McCann

Jack Haynes

Haseeb Hameed

Matt Montgomery

Lyndon James

Tom Moores

Liam Patterson-White

Brett Hutton

Luke Fletcher

Toby Pettman

plus

Farhan Ahmed

James Hayes

Rob Lord

Tom Loten

Ben Martindale

There will be at least one change to the Notts squad as Sammy King has been drafted by Norfolk as holiday cover for one of their regulars.

Fateh Singh has gone on loan to Worcestershire.

Yorkshire's preview

A win on Friday, it has to feel good for the players! Yes against a very inexperienced line-up with a toothless attack, but still a confidence lifting win. Consider the consquences if we hadn't won at Welbeck with our two senior seamers in operation together...

Yorkshire and are they Vikings in this competition as well(?), will represent a different kettle of fish to the Sharks. They've an overseas player for a start and are likely to have multiple medium pacers used to playing on wickets similar to Welbeck. Yorkshire beat Surrey in their first game in this competition.

Remember there's FREE transport for 60 members from
Lady Bay for this game

Will Notts employ the same eleven or consider resting a couple of the still shell-shocked T20 stalwarts who continue to be playing like they need a rest and a change from the cricket environment - we all know who I'm talking about, just look at the stats that have continued into this competition. However, in an eight game competition, you still know that the coach will give them ten games to see if they can can work through their hiccups, change isn't on the cards for his favourites. 

Message for Notts CCC / Welbeck CC: any chance we can have scoreboards so everyone in the ground can see the score? Knowing the par score doesn't help if you don't know the current score. That was the only let down from Friday and the chocolate-orange cake was fantastic.