WHAT A YEAR THAT WAS - 2006 A REVIEW Part 3

Craig White
By JMB
December 20 2006

A thrilling Championship finale sealed Yorkshire's top flight survival but the one day season was hugely disappointing. Progress was made in the Twenty20 format but in the other competitions it was a summer of one step forward and two steps back.

In the new C&G Trophy Yorkshire found themselves struggling from the start of the Northern Conference Division. Early defeat to Derbyshire and weather ruined games against Notts and Warwickshire set the tone the the tournament. Yorkshire got wins against Northamptonshire, Scotland and Lancashire, but then slumped to defeat against Durham, Leicestershire, Worcestershire to bring to an end a wretched campaign.

Of the batsmen only Lehmann (361 runs @ 90.25), White (319 @ 53.16) and Lumb (220 @ 44.00) found any consistency. None of the bowlers managed an economy rate of less than 4.20 and that was Darren Lehmann.

Worse was to come when Yorkshire started their first Pro40 campaign - a revamped and unsponsored version of the old Sunday League. Yorkshire were the strongest side in the competition - they had to be they held all the rest up. The performances were as tired as that joke and they finished rock bottom of Division 2 with only one win to their name, against Somerset at Taunton - a match where Anthony McGrath hit a wonderful 148 off 120 balls.

Again it was Lehmann who topped the Yorkshire averages with 128 runs at 42.66 and White hit 201 at 40.20. McGrath's tournament statistics were hugely inflated by his Taunton masterclass, infact scoring only 45 runs in his other five innings.

On the bowling side Shahzad and Patterson showed that their reputations are based on serious promise, but their more experienced counterparts (Kruis aside) provided nothing to worry opposition batsmen.

The Twenty20 Cup provided a brief period of hope, and in many ways provided the confidence for improved Championship results. After eight games Yorkshire finished third in their group (behind Leicestershire and Notts and above Lancs) and qualified for the Quarter Finals (with Kent) by virtue of being the best of the third place sides.

The fans started planning a trip to finals day and then Darren Lehmann injured his calf. It was touch and go whether the talismanic Aussie would make the match. In the end he did, but Yorkshire could not avoid defeat at Essex.

There were definite improvements on previous seasons in the Twenty20. What was most pleasing was that the results were not down to one or two men. Yes, Lehmann, White, Lumb and McGrath played their part, but there were fifties from Gale and Brophy along the way too. Bresnan's performances in the Twenty20 assisted his England claims, and the slightly more veteran spin twins of Lehmann and Dawson shared 18 wickets between them.

It's a mystery to many why Yorkshire struggle on limited overs cricket. There are powerful batsmen in the team and experienced bowlers, but something somewhere is lacking.

Part 4: The Tyke Internationals (To follow soon)


Why do you think Yorkshire have struggled in the one day game? Is it tactics, selection, or do we just not have the players? Say what you think on the message board below...