Yorkshire vs Essex
Well, I managed to keep track of the match for the most part, and listened to a fair bit of the commentary on days 2 and 3, but the drawn result was not much of a surprise. Losing about a day and a half to rain will always increase the likelihood of the draw.
Still, not hum-drum. Had it not been for a certain Mr Bopara, one suspects that Yorkshire would have rolled 'em, but then without Phil Jaques, Yorkshire's first innings total would have been only slightly better. I don't know whether this is just early season friskiness from the pitches, good bowling or poor shot selection, but for both teams, when one player makes a century, for the teams to manage only a single paltry batting bonus point between them is a bit rubbish. Lack of bonus points through lacklustre (or slow) first innings batting is probably what did for the Tykes last season (well... I may be getting the cart before the horse there... slow/lacklustre batting meant that a) they never managed to get full bonus points, and b) they usually took too much time out of games to close off a result when they should have won. There were also a few spectacular second innings collapses that contributed, but the main point stands.)
Nice that young Joe Root got some runs on the board in the second innings, he's got promise that lad. I don't know where Adam Lyth is at the moment though, he was meant to be pushing for England selection at the end of 2010, and he's not even in the Yorkshire first XI now... I must have a nose around. On the other hand, I was slightly surprised that Essex were not able to field Alistair Cook, and surely they would have done had he been free to play. Now that would have probably given Essex some batting points.
Still, not hum-drum. Had it not been for a certain Mr Bopara, one suspects that Yorkshire would have rolled 'em, but then without Phil Jaques, Yorkshire's first innings total would have been only slightly better. I don't know whether this is just early season friskiness from the pitches, good bowling or poor shot selection, but for both teams, when one player makes a century, for the teams to manage only a single paltry batting bonus point between them is a bit rubbish. Lack of bonus points through lacklustre (or slow) first innings batting is probably what did for the Tykes last season (well... I may be getting the cart before the horse there... slow/lacklustre batting meant that a) they never managed to get full bonus points, and b) they usually took too much time out of games to close off a result when they should have won. There were also a few spectacular second innings collapses that contributed, but the main point stands.)
Nice that young Joe Root got some runs on the board in the second innings, he's got promise that lad. I don't know where Adam Lyth is at the moment though, he was meant to be pushing for England selection at the end of 2010, and he's not even in the Yorkshire first XI now... I must have a nose around. On the other hand, I was slightly surprised that Essex were not able to field Alistair Cook, and surely they would have done had he been free to play. Now that would have probably given Essex some batting points.