da 888casino： Jack Brooks gave Yorkshire fleeting hopes of victory but rain intervened to leave them frustrated on the final day at the Ageas Bowl
da spicy bet： Freddie Wilde at the Ageas Bowl03-Sep-2016
ScorecardJack Brooks gave Yorkshire fleetinh hopes of victory•Getty Images
The frustrations Yorkshire must have felt, having certainly been the better of the two teams across the four days and on course for victory were it not for the weather, were most succinctly summarised by Adam Lyth as he scurried through the downpour towards the team bus, shoulders hunched and towel draped over his head. “F*****g rain” he growled in his thick Yorkshire accent.But it is testament to the quality of this Yorkshire team that a result even appeared to be a possibility heading into this final day. After 77 overs were lost to rain and bad light on a frustrating third day and, with heavy rain forecast by tea on the fourth, the two-time defending champions had, at best, two sessions in which to push for victory. Unlikely? Yes. Impossible? Certainly not.Ultimately the rain forecast for tea did arrive, and ultimately Yorkshire ran out of time but not before they gave Hampshire a scare. When play was halted for the final time at 3.40pm Hampshire were 84 for 4 and had the scheduled 38.2 overs been completed it felt more likely that Yorkshire would take the six wickets than they would not.On a day in which talk of the weather was never far away it feels appropriate to describe this Yorkshire team as a force of nature in their own right and their ability to conjure something out of this rain-ravaged match deserves respect.’It’s wide open’ – Gale
“It was one of those where people will you say you could have declared earlier but had we got the full time in then it might have been a tight game,” said Yorkshire’s captain Andrew Gale after play. “You can’t keep declaring by the weather forecast. Another 40 overs and we could have won that game.
“It’s wide open now. Four points in it now. We have two home games and we have a fantastic home record. We must have one of the best home records in the country over the last few years. That’s on our side. We know what we get with our pitches. We win our next two games at home and we are right up there.”
Not only did they make a game out of a match that, given the 128.2 overs lost to rain, had no right to be as competitive as it was, but they made something out a day that appeared to be petering slowly towards a draw.With Hampshire 50 for 1 midway through the afternoon session, Will Smith the man to go, and with the ball not swinging and the pitch showing no signs of life, the slim chance of a Yorkshire victory was fading. In what seemed to be a final throw of the dice Andrew Gale turned to Jack Brooks, who took five wickets in the first innings, to spark the match into life. How much credit Gale, or indeed Brooks, can take for Tom Alsop’s miscued pull that ended up in the hands of square leg is questionable, but the change had worked: Yorkshire smelt blood.Fourteen balls later Jimmy Adams was gone too. Propping forward to Brooks, the edge was found and Adam Lyth pouched the catch at second slip. Now the visitors were ticking; the fielders imbued with energy, throws zipped in above the stumps, clapping and chatter echoing around the ground. The light was closing in but so too were Yorkshire. Seven wickets needed.An over of Sidebottom. Two fours, a two and a single. Eleven runs but things were happening. One ball beat the edge, another fizzed off a length. More clapping, more chatter. Then James Vince. The ball was full, with a hint of swing, Vince threw his hands at it outside off stump – this story has been told before – Tim Bresnan took the catch. Four down. Six wickets needed. Hampshire had lost three for 24, Brooks had taken 3 for 12 in a spell that felt match-winning.And then, quite suddenly, the weather intervened. An early tea was taken for bad light. And before long the rain began. At 4.38pm the match was declared a draw.Earlier in the day Yorkshire had huffed and puffed for 22 overs to add 94 to their overnight lead before declaring to set Hampshire 298. In the end it was not the runs that mattered but the time.
