The breakneck speed of cricket at Headingley in recent times showed no signs of abating as the two remaining undefeated sides of the County Championship were pitched together in breathless combat. Honours finished fairly even between Yorkshire, the champions, and Middlesex, the current leaders.
Although the scoring rate did not match that of New Zealand’s recent Test win here, wickets fell at a similar tempo and in so doing made it extremely unlikely that both will retain their unblemished records.
When Jack Brooks trudged off, match ball aloft to acknowledge the applause of a 2,212 crowd – more than turned up to watch the last rites of England’s defeat – it appeared Yorkshire were in the box seat. However, Middlesex, the last team to register a championship win against them 12 months ago, exploited the grass covering on the pitch to emulate some of Brooks’ success – his five for 44 representing his second five-wicket haul of the summer.
Brooks, 31 last week, and the experienced Steve Patterson showed them the profitable length after Yorkshire lost the toss. Fullish ones from Brooks accounted for three Test players – Joe Burns, Sam Robson and Nick Compton – the latter refusing to be flustered by spending three quarters of an hour on 11 on his way to a top score of 70. Of all the international batsmen on display, it was Compton who acquitted himself the best. He has not given up hope of regaining the England place he lost on this ground two years ago.
“Patience is one of my greatest assets as a batsman but it is not one of my greatest assets as a person. I am desperate to get back in and I firmly believe I have the ability and credentials to be a thorn in the Ashes for the Australians,” he said. “But I have had to reset my goals and that is to be a really solid contributor to the Middlesex team because good things tend to happen if you have the right attitude and do the right thing.”
Compton was eighth out, grabbed at the second attempt by Jack Leaning at third slip, after an extraordinary spell from Glenn Maxwell, whose selection as Yorkshire’s spinner ahead of the semi-retired James Middlebrook was vindicated with three wickets in a 15-ball spell that also included a handful of boundaries. James Franklin’s wretched run – his tally now stands at 36 in eight innings – continued when he was scooped up at short leg, John Simpson was pinned lbw and Ollie Rayner succumbed to a delivery that snaked between his legs.
Although Yorkshire hared out of the traps in response, Adam Lyth, their recent Test centurion, and Alex Lees were both taken at second slip in quick succession and Gary Ballance’s struggles continued even with the spectre of Trent Boult removed. Having managed just 36 runs in four innings against the Kiwis, he edged short of the cordon on nought, and was trapped leg-before shortly afterwards by Tim Murtagh.
Yorkshire also lost their captain, Andrew Gale, before the close but they possess power to add: the two unbeaten batsmen Jonny Bairstow and Leaning already have hundreds to their names in 2015, as does Tim Bresnan, who is down to bat at No9 behind the explosive Maxwell and all-rounder Will Rhodes, who was called in after Ryan Sidebottom aggravated a calf injury in the warmup.“If you get in and give yourself time here, you can cash in when the ball gets softer and the sun comes out,” Brooks said. “Middlesex are top of the league, won the toss and batted. We bowled them out in two sessions so we have to be happy with that.”
