Report: Yorkshire v Warwickshire, LV= Insurance County Championship

Warwickshire maintained their hopes of winning the LV= Insurance County Championship title, ending Yorkshire’s own in the process, with a final day victory at Emerald Headingley.

The Bears defended a 224 target to win by 106 runs and move second in the Division One table ahead of next week’s blockbuster final round, 3.5 points behind leaders Hampshire.

Heading into that final round, in the race for the Championship title and qualification for the Bob Willis Trophy final, the top four teams in Division One are separated by just 6.5 points.

After a third day washout due to rain, Yorkshire resumed day four on 50 for three and were bowled out for 117 inside 75 minutes of play. Chris Woakes claimed three for 26, while Tim Bresnan also finished with six catches in the innings at first slip.

He is only the third Bear to achieve that feat in first-class cricket alongside Rikki Clarke with seven and MJK Smith six.

The Division One table now reads: Hampshire 58.5 points, Warwickshire 55, Lancashire 54.5, Nottinghamshire 52, Yorkshire 41.5 and Somerset 26.5.

Lancashire host Hampshire at Liverpool, Warwickshire face Somerset at Edgbaston and Notts play Yorkshire at Trent Bridge.

As Warwickshire chase their first Championship title since 2012, Yorkshire can still qualify in the top two places for the Bob Willis final.

Woakes gave the Bears the ideal start with the two key Yorkshire wickets in the opening half hour of play, leaving the score at 69 for five in the 33rd over of the innings.

If the White Rose were going to reel in the target, you felt Gary Ballance and Harry Brook would have to contribute significantly. But both fell.

Ballance, for 21, edged to Sam Hain at second slip with the day’s third ball – 50 for four – before a Brook edge on nine gave Bresnan his fourth catch at first slip.

Further Warwickshire success was just around the corner.

Bresnan and Craig Miles both struck in their second overs of the morning, the 38th and 41st, as Yorkshire slipped to the brink at 95 for seven.

Bresnan trapped Dom Bess lbw before Miles had Harry Duke caught and bowled for single-figure scores.

Bresnan’s fifth catch of the innings – the Warwickshire record is a world record equalling seven by Clarke at Liverpool in 2011 – then came when Liam Norwell snared Jordan Thompson for 18, leaving the score at 105 for eight in the 46th.

And number six followed when Steve Patterson flashed at, and edged, Miles – 114 for nine in the 49th.The end came in the 50th when Ben Coad chipped Norwell to mid-on. Norwell and Miles also impressed for three wickets each.

Day Three

There was no play possible due to rain on the third day of the LV= Insurance County Championship match between title chasers Yorkshire and Warwickshire at Emerald Headingley.  

Forecasted rain arrived shortly before 9am and had not stopped when umpires Nigel Llong and Neil Mallender opted to abandon the day at 2.30pm with puddles on the outfield.

This penultimate round Division One fixture is nicely poised with Yorkshire 50 for three chasing 224.

It is a must win for both sides in terms of their ambitions to win the title and maybe even for finishing second for Bob Willis Trophy final qualification.

Heading into the final day, Yorkshire’s key man Gary Ballance is at the crease unbeaten on 21.Warwickshire would be able to make the strongest case for being favourites to win at this stage, especially on the back of getting England Test batsman Dawid Malan brilliantly caught one-handed by Tim Bresnan at slip off the last ball of day two from Liam Norwell.

Day Two

The crucial LV= Insurance County Championship match between title chasers Yorkshire and Warwickshire has edged the way of the visitors courtesy of three evening wickets in defence of 224 on day two at Emerald Headingley. 

The winner of this penultimate round Division One fixture will set up a final week title push, while the loser will be all but eliminated. Yorkshire closed on 50 for three, including losing Dawid Malan to the day’s last ball.

Eighteen wickets fell on day one followed by 15 during a second day which saw Tim Bresnan contribute with the bat and in the field against the county he won two Championship titles with in 2014 and 2015.

The veteran all-rounder hit a useful lower order 36 in Warwickshire’s second-innings 176 before taking three first slip catches. One of his apprentices immediately prior to his Headingley departure last summer, Jordan Thompson, claimed a season’s best five for 52.

Yorkshire’s first innings, which resumed on 95 for eight replying to 155, was wrapped up in the day’s opening 17 minutes as Liam Norwell – four for 27 – and Craig Miles bowled Steve Patterson and Gary Ballance, the latter for 58.

Warwickshire then reached 23 without loss inside 12 overs of their second innings. 

But their first four fell for the addition of as many runs inside six overs, including Chris Benjamin and Sam Hain to leave Thompson on a hat-trick in the 15th. Hain feathered behind to record a king pair. 

They were sandwiched in between two Patterson wickets, Will Rhodes and Matt Lamb bowled – 27 for four.

Either side of lunch, fringe England Test opener Dom Sibley and Michael Burgess boosted the Bears by sharing 70.

The pair played contrasting knocks in tricky conditions under the floodlights. Sibley was characteristically stout for 45 and Burgess, like his first-innings 66, counter-attacking for 37.

However, Sibley’s departure midway through the afternoon sparked another cluster of wickets as the score slipped to 108 for seven in the 41st over – a visiting lead of 155.

Thompson had him and Chris Woakes, the latter for a duck, caught behind within four balls in the 37th over before Burgess drove Matthew Fisher’s first ball of a new spell to point.

Fisher later uprooted Jacob Bethell’s off stump, only for Bresnan to add important lower order runs – as he so often did for Yorkshire.

Ben Coad trapped Bresnan lbw with the first ball of the evening – 163 for nine – before Thompson wrapped up only his second career five-for when Norwell miscued to mid-off.

Woakes and Miles then struck as Yorkshire tried to navigate the final 26 overs of the day, getting George Hill and Adam Lyth caught at slip – 18 for two. Malan then fell to a superb one-handed Bresnan catch off Norwell for 12 at the end, swinging things Warwickshire’s way.

Day One

Chris Woakes removed England team-mate Dawid Malan for nine as part of Warwickshire’s impressive fightback during an 18-wicket opening day against Yorkshire at Emerald Headingley. 

Warwickshire were bowled out for 155 in a helter-skelter start to this penultimate round LV= Insurance County Championship Division One fixture which is a must win for both sides’ title aspirations. 

But Yorkshire could only reply with 95 for eight, including three for 40 from 12 overs for Woakes.

Home seamers Steve Patterson and Ben Coad equally shared eight wickets, the former claiming the 450th of his first-class career. 

Michael Burgess’s pugnacious 66 was made to look all the more important when Woakes got in amongst Yorkshire’s batting line-up either side of tea, with Liam Norwell and Craig Miles also impressing with five wickets between them.

Pre-game, Yorkshire (38.5 points) were joint second in the table with Hampshire, 10.5 behind leaders Nottinghamshire. Warwickshire were fourth on 36.

Woakes had Malan caught at point cutting as Yorkshire’s reply slipped to 27 for three during the afternoon.  

The pair have returned to county action following the cancellation of the fifth Test against India on Friday.

After winning the toss, Yorkshire took advantage of seam movement more than swing, with Warwickshire losing their first three wickets on 24.

After Matthew Fisher trapped Dom Sibley lbw for six, playing around his front pad, Coad got Will Rhodes caught behind and Sam Hain caught at point off the shoulder of the bat with successive deliveries in the seventh over.

Patterson, aged 37, then bowled both Chris Benjamin, offering no shot, and Matt Lamb before getting Woakes lbw stuck on the crease for nine – 71 for six in the 20th over.

After lunch, he had 17-year-old first-class debutant Jacob Bethell caught behind for his 450th scalp.

Coad struck twice after lunch, which Warwickshire reached at 103 for seven, on the way to a season’s best four for 48.

He wrapped up the innings by getting Burgess caught at deep midwicket pulling having earlier been the subject of a scooped six.

And wickets continued to fall.

Woakes made the initial breakthrough by trapping Yorkshire opener George Hill lbw in the third over before Norwell removed Adam Lyth the same way in the next – five for two.

Woakes then had Malan – 27 for three after nine – before further wickets fell under the floodlights after tea.

Norwell uprooted the middle stump of a driving Dom Bess and trapped Harry Duke lbw. 

When Jordan Thompson was caught off a miscued pull at Miles, who also had Fisher caught at slip, Yorkshire were 93 for eight in the 37th.Bad light ended play 12.2 overs early with Yorkshire 60 behind and Gary Ballance unbeaten on 51.