Martyn Moxon reacted with disappointment after Yorkshire’s request for Adil Rashid to be released from England’s tour of the Caribbean was knocked back.
The Yorkshire director of cricket rang the England coach, Peter Moores, on the opening day of the second Test against West Indies in Grenada but was met with a negative answer 24 hours later. Yorkshire, the county champions, wanted leg-spinner Rashid to face Warwickshire, the 2014 runners-up, in the next round of Division One fixtures.
“Given that Adil is not playing in this Test match, and it seems highly unlikely he’s going to play in Barbados, we asked whether they would consider allowing him to come back and play on Sunday. Unfortunately, that’s been declined,” Moxon said.
“We felt quite within our rights to ask for him to be released. However, they have said they want to keep their options open with regards to selection for that final Test, so we have to abide by that. It’s disappointing.”
Moxon’s mobile phone went into meltdown on the final day at Trent Bridge. In addition to the Rashid situation, Yorkshire faced a second blow with the news that their primary overseas player Aaron Finch has been sidelined until July following hamstring surgery.
Yorkshire are to seek clarification from Cricket Australia on whether Finch’s anticipated 12-week recovery schedule runs from when the injury occurred last Tuesday or from Wednesday. If it is the former, he would potentially be available for a couple of the final NatWest Blast group games plus two Championship matches before he joins up with Australia’s one-day squad in August.
It is anticipated Glenn Maxwell will cover the loss of compatriot Finch by featuring in all formats when he arrives from Indian Premier League duty next month but a plan to pair him alongside David Miller, his Kings XI Punjab team-mate in Twenty20, was scuppered when the South African rejected the chance to return to Headingley.
Despite the off-field disruption, which also included clarification that the veteran left-armer Ryan Sidebottom’s calf tear will require six weeks to heal, Yorkshire maintained their good record here, stretching their sequence to one defeat in the last 11 championship visits. Indeed, they were the only team retaining a genuine chance of victory as the match entered its fourth morning.
But Nottinghamshire’s admirable rearguard from an overnight position of 74 for three ensured the points were shared equally. Samit Patel’s two-hour vigil was worth 76 and it was something of a surprise when, with his weight on the back foot, he flirted with a full delivery from the all-rounder Will Rhodes with fatal consequences.
However, it was one of only four wickets and Nottinghamshire’s captain, Chris Read, took advantage of a tiring attack to inflate his tally of Division One runs to 253 for once out this season. He offered one chance when, with his side effectively 240 for seven, he drove low to his opposite number Andrew Gale at cover. With its grassing went Yorkshire’s chances.
“At the end of day one I didn’t see this many runs in the game and thought we had posted what was a pretty competitive score,” said the Nottinghamshire director of cricket, Mick Newell. “But once Yorkshire got level that was it for us, so to prevent them winning is about as much as we could achieve.”
