Bairstow ton downs Middlesex
Jonny Bairstow scored his maiden one-day century in his first innings at Lord's as bottom-of-the-table Yorkshire beat Middlesex by 22 runs
10-Aug-2011
Jonny Bairstow scored his maiden one-day century in his first innings at Lord's as bottom-of-the-table Yorkshire dashed Middlesex's hopes of moving alongside Sussex at the top of the Clydesdale Bank 40 Group A with a 22-run victory. Bairstow made 114 and shared partnerships of 85 in 15 overs with Jacques Rudolph, and 105 in 16 overs with Anthony McGrath, to lead Yorkshire to a total of 275 for 4 after Middlesex had surprisingly put them in to bat on a flat
pitch.
The target always looked too big for Middlesex but they made a great fight of it. Paul Stirling, the Ireland batsman, hit 68 off 47 balls, including 10 fours and a six, before he was caught at short cover off the left-arm spin of David Wainwright.
Middlesex then slumped to 160 for 7 but Steven Crook hit 61 off 40 balls with five fours and two sixes, Tom Smith (27) joined him in an eighth-wicket stand of 66 in 11 overs, and they were driving Yorkshire to distraction until Smith drove Richard Pyrah to mid-off and Crook sliced Ryan Sidebottom to cover point.
The match, which was originally scheduled to be played under floodlights, was only given the go-ahead at 8.30 in the morning with the start brought forward to noon following talks between both sides and the police in the wake of the recent rioting in London. It clearly affected the attendance but there was still a sizeable crowd to see Bairstow take control after Andrew Gale had been caught behind off the fifth ball of the innings from Corey Collymore.
Bairstow, the 21-year-old England Lions wicketkeeper-batsman, who had never made more than 46 in his 24 previous one-day matches, was soon driving Tim Murtagh straight back over his head for six on his way to fifty off 47 balls. Brimming with confidence, he went on to complete his hundred with two more sixes off Steven Crook and Murtagh and had accelerated to his 114 off 87 balls with nine fours as well when he was bowled swinging across the line against
Dexter.
Rudolph had made 40 off 50 balls when he was caught at extra cover off Crook, McGrath hit 63 off 60 before spooning Murtagh to cover and Gary Ballance weighed in with an unbeaten 34 off 24 balls.
