Root guides Yorkshire win
Yorkshire took just short of an hour on the final morning to complete a County Championship double over Worcestershire with a six-wicket victory at Scarborough
14-Jul-2011
Yorkshire took just short of an hour on the final morning to complete a County Championship double over Worcestershire with a six-wicket victory at Scarborough. Some of the gloss was taken off their win, however, with the news they had been docked two of the 23 points they took from the match because of a slow over rate.
Yorkshire started out on 80 for 3 in their chase towards a 134 target and they lost Jonny Bairstow on the way but they were guided home by a cool unbeaten 52 from 20-year-old opener, Joe Root, his fourth half-century of the season. Root was 31 and Bairstow 12 overnight and Bairstow was not long in taking the attack to Worcestershire, cover-driving Alan Richardson for four and striking offspinner Saeed Ajmal for a midwicket boundary.
Bairstow, who received his first-team cap before the start of the match, cut Ajmal for four and the 50 stand arrived off 18 overs. Jack Shantry took over from Richardson and was forced through point to the rope by Root but soon afterwards he lost Bairstow who was drawn forward by Ajmal and smartly stumped for 33 by Ben Scott.
Root's half-century arrived off 140 deliveries with five fours and new batsman, Gary Ballance, quickly finished things off with a couple of boundaries. The win leapfrogged Yorkshire above Worcestershire and out of the relegation zone and director of cricket, Martyn Moxon, said the aim now was for Yorkshire to do well enough in their last half-dozen matches to finish in the top three.
"We have got to set our stall out to do this and it is not an unrealistic hope because many sides are relatively close to each other on points," he said. "The return of Jacques Rudolph should also give us a boost and make us into a better team."
Moxon said that the South African was still awaiting his work permit but the hope remained that he would fly in on Sunday and be available for the Roses match which begins at Headingley Carnegie next Wednesday.
Although Moxon was delighted that Yorkshire had come out top against Worcestershire, he admitted that he was concerned about the side's slow over rate and the deduction of two points.
"We have been flirting with the possibility of losing points for some time and the issue needs to be dealt with," he said. "Losing two points is like tossing away 250 runs or six wickets and it has to be stopped."
