Yorkshire 262 for 6 dec (Hill 52, Revis 51*, Bess 48*) and 363 for 4 (Masood 123, Wharton 89, Lyth 51) beat Worcestershire 389 (D’Oliveira 103, Kashif Ali 93, Allison 75) and 232 for 2 dec (Haynes 113*, Libby 109*) by six wickets
Yorkshire’s fourth-highest ever successful run chase was achieved with comfort, by six wickets with three overs of the allotted 70 remaining.
With the game meandering ahead of day four, both sides opted to contrive a finish, with Yorkshire risking the draw which would lift them off the bottom of Division Two. As it was, they were able to achieve that by going for broke as captain Masood hit 15 fours in 131 balls.
This was just a minor blot on Worcestershire’s copybook having earned promotion on day two, and they should be applauded for their willingness to partake in invention.
Yorkshire lost opener Fin Bean sharply caught and bowled by Dillon Pennington for 11 just before lunch as the score slipped to 22 for 1 in the 10th over.
Pennington, playing his last game for the Pears before moving to Nottinghamshire, prevented 21-year-old Bean from reaching 1,000 Championship runs in an impressive breakthrough year. He fell only 17 runs short. The consolation for the left-hander was that he was awarded the Yorkshire Members’ Player of the Year award at lunch.
Captain Masood batted in dreamy fashion, driving and working particularly well in excellent batting conditions. He reached his fifty off 57 balls before tea – Yorkshire were 175 for 2 after 39 overs, needing 185 more – and his second hundred for the county off 107 balls afterwards.
Yorkshire cruised through the final session. At 237 for 2, they took the target to 123 from the final 20 overs. By that time, Wharton had reached his fifty off 71 balls.
Baker bowled Wharton and had Masood caught at deep midwicket in quick succession, leaving the score 279 for 4 – 81 needed inside 14 overs.
But George Hill and Tattersall maintained the intent and shared an unbroken 84 for the fifth wicket. Hill contributed 38 of them, with both scoring at better than a run-a-ball.
This finish was engineered following an hour of forgettable cricket. Worcestershire resumed on 18 for 2, a lead of 145. Yorkshire bowled properly for the opening 20 minutes through Matt Milnes and Ben Coad, but with no breakthrough they turned to declaration bowling from Bean and Wharton. They shared 19.1 overs, conceding more than 100 runs apiece.
Libby and Haynes, the latter in his final appearance for Worcestershire ahead of a move to Notts alongside Pennington, were the beneficiaries of an open-goal chance to boost their averages. They both reached centuries as a total of 214 runs were scored in 23.1 overs.
“People don’t come to watch draws, so it’s nice to set up a result,” said Bean as he accepted his Player of the Year award at lunch.
For Yorkshire, things worked out well as they avoided a bottom-placed finished for the first time since 1983 and gave an early indication they will be promotion favourites next summer with no points penalty.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo