29th May
Phil Jenkins, Noel Mullin and Phil Moore called up to England duty.
Eldershaw: With the England callups my chance came far earlier than I expected! I'm heading to Lord's to make my Yorkshire XI debut against Middlesex! The coach suggested that I'll bowl 1st change, but Vic Nixon has been doing well lately, so he may sneek in ahead of me. Still, I'm just thrilled to be playing and will try to make the best of it.
YORKSHIRE V MIDDLESEX (45-over)
Conditions: Cloudy, Overcast, Sunny
Pitch: Nothing for seamers, a bit for spinners
Toss: Yorkshire (Bowl first)
Score was 31 for 0 from 8 overs when Michael Vaughan called on me for my first over...
1st ball to Henry Downes : full and defended back down the track
2nd ball to Henry Downes : short and defended off the back foot to gully
3rd ball to Henry Downes : pitched up and driven through the covers for 4
4th ball to Henry Downes : HOWZAT?!?!? OUT! Good length and LBW! - 35/1
Michael (Vaughan) was the first to congratulate me and I was absolutely thrilled. A long wait yes, but a wicket in my first over for Yorkshire. After a 2-minute celebration, I went back to my mark and tried to gather myself before once again sprinting in...
5th ball to Matthew Sinclair: short and cut away for 1 run
6th ball to Michael Brown: fullish and defended to midoff
Kicking myself for giving up that boundary, but all in all was a very satisfactory start, surrendering 5 runs and taking a wicket.
My next couple of overs went for 4 and 5 runs with a couple of boundaries and then I was switched to the other end as Oram finished his spell of 6 overs. The skipper himself bowled the change over (9 runs off it) and I started the 16th over at 3-0-14-1. Beat the edge of Myerscough, but no more success.
My second spell was not altogether as good as my first, getting hit a bit for 18 runs from 3 overs with no wicket.
Very disappointed I set up at short fine leg as Davies took over from my end - he bowled a wicket maiden. At the other end, Nixon was bleeding runs, with figures of 5-0-45-0. He was replaced by a returning Hutchinson (4-1-20-0).
Tim Myerscough thankfully stumped of Vaughan for 102 in the 36th over and we were right back in it at 197/8. Davies finished his spell of 9-1-49-3 and I took over for my 3rd spell alongside Jacob Oram. Oram took the 9th wicket to set up my 7th over, a maiden without really troubling the batsmen. Jacob then sent down another maiden and gave me another chance to finish the innings. This time I was cut for 4 and then had a good shout for caught behind off the inside edge, but the umpire didn't give it.
I charged in (as much as a medium pace swing bowler can) to bowl the 45th over with the score at 214/9...
1st ball to Simon Cook : BOWLED'M!!! STRAIGHT THROUGH SOME SHABBY DEFENCE!
Full and straight and it paid off for me this time.
8.1-1-36-2... not the worst debut ever, but not quite as good as it could have been. Still, I felt like I'd played a good part in setting up a good victory chance for Yorkshire.
Middlesex 214 all out (44.1 overs)
(Michael Davies 9-1-49-3, Jacob Oram 9-3-18-2,
Gary Eldershaw 8.1-1-36-2, Paul Hutchinson 9-2-41-2
Jake and Adamson got us off to a solid start and then Vic Craven came in nicely at 3 and classed 55 from 64 balls then was run out. Lumb and Vaughan were out looking to force the pace late, but 22-year-old Alan Nixon calmly stroked 26 from 24 balls and Kenway smashed 24 from 13 balls to seal it with 7 balls in hand.
Yorkshire 215/5 (43.5 overs)
(Vic Craven 55 [64], Sam Adamson 49 [66])
Yorkshire won by 5 wickets
Standings
Chapionship: 1st (21 points ahead of Durham; 1 more game played)
NCL: 1st (4 points ahead of Leic; 2 more games; +0.2 NRR)
Trophy: Round 3 v T.B.D.
Super Cup: Semi-final v Lancashire
Undefeated in all competitions but the NCL (4-1-0).