Yorkshire Vs. Lancashire Friendly Day 3.

Smith shines on final day of friendly with Yorkshire.

The final day of this friendly game was unlikely to bring any result, but the fans were certainly guaranteed entertainment, after the first two days, which have both shown how strong these teams could be if they apply themselves. Yorkshire in particular will be ecstatic with their batting performance thus far, after their innings and 12-run loss to Sussex in the championship.  Lancashire will be less impressed by their inability to rip through Yorkshire’s lower order batsmen, much like their encounter with Worcestershire.

Yorkshire replicated the action of declaring overnight on 381-8, but with a lead of 112 runs their position in this match was certainly stronger than Lancashire’s. Both Tom Smith and Stephen Moore have been struggling to nail down their place in the first-team and they were given the chance to prove themselves, when they opened Lancashire’s second innings.

They seemed to cope largely better than expected, on an incredibly windy mornings session, with Smith looking particularly strong. Moore was arguably more in need of form but unfortunately it was he who was removed first, edging to Liam Plunkett at fourth slip off Tim Bresnan for 22, with the score at 47-1.

Karl Brown joined Smith at the crease, hoping to improve on his score of 32 from the first innings. Smith built on his already impressive work, advancing to his half-century from 79 balls. By lunch, Lancashire had reached an impressive total of 105-1, scoring at an impressive rate against the highly qualified bowling attack Yorkshire possessed.

Lancashire were scheduled to declare at some stage in the afternoon session, in order to give their opponents another chance to bat and, likewise, give themselves an opportunity to bowl. 

Smith continued to impress after lunch, building on his score of 65 not out from the break. He appeared to be bound for a century but, possibly in an attempt to accelerate his innings further, he top-edged Bresnan to Andrew Gale at cover for 89, with Lancashire on 152-2, ending Smith and Brown’s stand – worth 105 runs.

Steven Croft replaced the Lancs opener, but managed only a single before he played-on to his own stumps to give Adil Rashid his first wicket of the innings, after he struck an impressive century yesterday.  Gareth Cross (3) joined Brown (45), but the fourth-wicket stand was halted when Lancashire declared on 163-3, with a lead of just 51. It was therefore clear that no outright winner would emerge, but both sides would get in some much needed practice.

Unlike Lancashire, Yorkshire opened with the same batsmen as they had from their first innings, as Adam Lyth and Joe Root sought to build a strong opening partnership. Adnan Ghaus failed to claim any wickets on his debut in the first innings, but at the second time of asking he claimed Lyth’s wicket at 45-1. By tea Yorkshire had long passed their ‘target’ of 52, as Root and Jacques entered the pavilion for 72-1 from just 13 overs.

Newby claimed the wicket of Root in the first over after the break and then dismissed the Yorkshire captain, Andrew Gale, at 102-3. Phil Jacques showed some resistance as he managed to obtain a well-deserved fifty, but six runs later was dismissed by Stephen Parry, as he was caught by Smith, with Yorkshire now 162-4.

Smith then took his second catch in quick succession, as Simon Kerrigan removed Liam Plunkett on 163-5. Bresnan was then removed by an Oliver Newby catch to give Parry his second wicket of the innings and when Steve Patterson was trapped LBW by Kerrigan at 164-7, the day came to a close.