The England allrounder scored 131 from 95 and then added four wickets as Yorkshire held off Lancashire by 16 runs
David Hopps at Old Trafford05-Jun-2018
ScorecardAs a show of support for cricket in the county, every club chairman in Lancashire had been invited to Old Trafford for what turned out to be a memorable Roses encounter. They leant on the railings of The Point hospitality centre, men of a certain age, expecting honour to be upheld against their keenest rivals. It has to be said therefore that there were better days for Lancashire to concede the highest List A score in their history.Any comic who has ever worked the Northern Working Men’s Club circuit would have sympathised as Lancashire’s bowlers and fielders botched their lines in front of onlookers who knew what they liked and didn’t like what they saw. Yorkshire made 379 for 7, then held off a spirited Lancashire reply by a none-too-comfortable 16 runs to maintain their chances of reaching the play-offs by beating Northants at Headingley on Thursday.Hundreds from David Willey and Adam Lyth settled matters. Willey clubbed 131 from 95 balls, Lyth slashed 144 from 132 balls and they shared 235 in 33 overs for the second wicket. It was Yorkshire’s highest partnership for the second wicket in List A cricket – and third-highest ever – as well as the highest for any partnership by either side in Roses history. Their centuries bagged, both benefited from a succession of Lancashire dropped catches.Lancashire have not beaten Yorkshire in a List A match for the past decade and it was Willey who ensured that run continued by following up the yorking of Haseeb Hameed by taking the last two wickets in a clinical penultimate over to complete the sort of day that attracted IPL interest.And in their defence, Lancashire had to do without the magical properties of the IPL bench.Such are the bench’s mystical powers that is now commonplace for England players to return home from largely inactive roles at cricket’s biggest global T20 tournament with the pronouncement that they are brimming with new-found knowledge and vigour, eager to take their game to new levels.Willey is such a figure, but at Old Trafford, he backed up such talk with a performance to match. He played only three matches for Chennai Super Kings, took two wickets and didn’t make a run, but he talks of a restored appetite for the game and his figures certainly added up.Willey cut a disconsolate figure last season as he failed to break into England’s Champions Trophy side (the England bench clearly not having the same uplifting effect) and had an in-and-out county campaign which left Yorkshire wondering about the value of their high-profile signing, but rubbing shoulders with the best T20 players in the world appears to have left its mark. As Peter Pan knew, if you believe in magic, there is a better chance it will happen.Willey went into the match saying: “It’s certainly helped me become a student of the game again, which is quite refreshing. I wasn’t in a great place with my cricket last summer. But to play in that environment and learn so much in such a short space of time was quite exciting. Now, I just want to play.”Last summer was a tough time and somewhere I’ve never been with cricket before. To just be wishing the game would be finished so I could get away from the ground was quite tough to process given it’s a game I’ve loved from as young as I can remember.”Unable to qualify for the play-offs, Lancashire had rested Joe Mennie and Graham Onions. Matt Parkinson’s legspin was inhibited by a short leg-side boundary and, although Tom Bailey escaped punishment early on, his late-over variations fell into disarray as Yorkshire took 81 off the last eight. It was good to see Gary Ballance back from a short break for exhaustion and batting in carefree fashion.Willey was shunted up the order to No. 3 and, after a circumspect start, deposited the first of his two sixes, in Keaton Jennings’ first over; seven sixes in all in the midwicket arc. Arguably the best was the straightest, against the left-arm spin of Steven Parry, which threatened the clock on the turret of the old pavilion. The blow that took him to 99, off the medium pace of Josh Bohannan flew 30 steps back into the temporary stand at midwicket, all the steps logged by Jennings as he trotted up them to retrieve the ball.By the time Willey was bowled, swinging at an offspinner, the Lancashire captain, Liam Livingstone, was undertaking an increasingly faltering run-up as if it was too much of an imposition to bear.Thanks to Livingstone, Lancashire threatened to overhaul this daunting total. By the 18th over, Lancashire were 144 for 1 and Livingstone’s bat rang bold and true. Presumably, in the lunch interval, he had popped down to B&Q in Trafford Park and had an inspiring sit on the Norfolk Wood Bench (sponge clean only), available at a princely £43 or about two minutes’ salary at the IPL.But Livingstone’s uninhibited assault was itself sponge cleaned on 79 from 44 when Matthew Fisher held a fearful steepler at long-on. Jennings, who was struck on the helmet by Willey, and who was fortunate not to be adjudged run out by him on 33, made 69 from 70 before he miscued to deep square leg. Adil Rashid quelled further thoughts of rebellion with three wickets in mid-innings, the most important that of Dane Vilas as he failed to execute a sweep. Then came Willey’s coup de grace.