Close Encounter Falls Foul Of The Weather

Not for the first or last time in the history of Yorkshire CCC, a first-class fixture was curtailed by the rain. On this occasion, a delicately-poised contest between the reigning champions Warwickshire and their possible successors Yorkshire finished with a draw, courtesy of the wet stuff from the sky gatecrashing the proceedings. A full day's cricket or even half a day would almost certainly have settled the outcome.

Both teams may regard the eventual stalemate as a case of glass half empty/glass half full. For Warwickshire, they had clearly gained the upper hand on the third day when their first-innings tail wagged furiously and Chris Woakes then sabotaged Yorkshire's second-innings reply. However, a second-innings target of 174 presented as many dangers for the visitors as it did opportunities. Warwickshire had already twice been bowled out cheaply at Edgbaston against the Tykes while their first-innings effort was far from convincing. Furthermore, batting last on a testing Headingley pitch under dark skies could have been a recipe for disaster. Finally, the hosts had six specialist bowlers to call on: four seamers and two spinners, so they could have rotated the bowling and kept each bowler fresh and ready for another spell. Did the rude interruption of the rain rescue Warwickshire then? I'm not so sure.

Quite frankly, after two evenly-matched days, the momentum had swung quite decisively to the away team. If the likes of Chopra had got off to a flier in the run chase, then the west Midlanders might have cruised to triumph. Well, we will never know.

Yorkshire may curse this missed opportunity come the end of September. However, the hosts will be encouraged by another useful knock from Alex Lees while the outstanding Gary Ballance once again successfully auditioned for an England test place with 157 runs in this low-scoring engagement. The white rose county also bowled really well, until they let their opponents out of jail when Barker and Patel added 99 for the ninth wicket.

I was pleased to see Rafiq included alongside Rashid in a six-man attack. However, the runs have dried up for Rashid, which therefore calls into question the courageous move to field six bowlers and promote Rashid to the number five berth. Lyth and Rashid need to re-discover a bit of form or else Yorkshire's current line-up will be a short-lived one.

After being humiliated by Yorkshire back in May, it was almost inevitable that Warwickshire would provide greater resistance this time. As for the Tykes, there is a concern that their Twenty20 demise could spill over into a decline in their County Championship campaign. Time will tell.

YORKSHIRE versus Warwickshire; at Headingley; 2-5 August 2013; Warwickshire won the toss.

YORKSHIRE first innings: 302 (Ballance 112, Lees 56; Barker 3-61, Woakes 3-63)

Warwickshire first innings: 309 (Evans 88, Patel 63; Plunkett 4-74)

YORKSHIRE second innings: 180 (Woakes 5-42, Rankin 4-29)

Warwickshire second innings: 3 for 0

Match drawn.