Ballance 114 not out as Yorkshire despatch MCC
Rock-solid Gary Ballance, right, cruised to 114 not out as Yorkshire despatched MCC Young Cricketers to record their fourth win in five Second Eleven Trophy matches.
Only the rain at Bingley has marred what Pa Larkin might have called a "purrfect" record.
Yorkshire won the toss at the batsmen’s paradise of Stamford Bridge, invited MCC to field - and opener Ballance made hay while the sun shone, scoring at not quite a run a ball throughout his knock.
His best partnerships came at the start with Twenty20 refugee Joe Sayers and at the end with Lee Hodgson, a former MCC Young Cricketer himself, and wicket-keeper Simon Guy. A short shower interrupted the sixth-wicket partnership with nine overs to go, but when play resumed these overs yielded a further 77 runs, 42 of them in the clatter-bang-wallop of the last three. Yorkshire's total of 263 was about par for the Bridge.
MCC opening batsman Michael Bracewell looked as though he might duplicate Ballance - he scored half of the first 120 - but in the 25th over the guile of left-arm spinner Gurman Randhawa lured him out of his crease to be smartly stumped by Guy. This ended the best partnership, but Michael's partner, Ben Eckersley, stayed to the end, scoring the second 50 of the innings as he ran out of partners.
Once Bracewell was out Randhawa and part-time spinner Sayers finished the visitors off, each taking three wickets. Sayers delivered the best bowling of the innings - is he hiding a light under a bushel?
The Yorkshire win, by 95 runs, was their fourth in five Trophy matches - only the rain at Bingley spoiling a “purrfect” record. Battle is resumed today when the same teams, with a change of two, start their Championship match at the same ground.
Yorkshire 2nd XI Innings (maximum 50 overs): GS Ballance not out 114 (11 fours), JJ Sayers (captain) c Saffell b Clarke 24 (4 fours), JE Root b Beaven 12 (1 four), CR Taylor b Saffell 4, RM Pyrah c Richardson b Beaven 1, JM Bairstow b Beaven 11, LJ Hodgson c Bracewell b Queri 56 (6 fours), SM Guy (wicket-keeper) not out 26 (4 fours and 1 six). Extras (lb 1, w 12, nb 2) 15
Total (6 wkts, 50 overs) 263
DNB: JE Lee, G Randhawa and SA Patterson
FoW: 1-43 (Sayers), 2-66 (Root), 3-80 (Taylor), 4-85 (Pyrah), 5-120 (Bairstow), 6-219 (Hodgson)
Bowling: Queri 9-0-47-1, Clarke 6-0-39-1, Saffell 9-0-61-1, Beaven 10-0-34-3, Thompson 8-0-47-0, Dhar 8-0-34-0
MCC Young Cricketers' Innings (maximum 50 overs): MG Bracewell st Guy b Randhawa 60 (9 fours and 1 six), GR Brown lbw b Lee 6 (1 four), JG Thompson c Bairstow b Lee 0, MJ Richardson (captain and wicket-keeper) c Guy b Pyrah 14 (2 fours), EJ Eckersley c Bairstow b Sayers 56 (2 fours and 1 six), RG Queri c Bairstow b Randhawa 0, AD Clarke lbw b Sayers 16 (2 fours), LE Beaven lbw b Randhawa 1, GD Dhar st Guy b Sayers 1, OHJ Saffell not out 1. DJ Blacktopp absent injured. Extras (b 2, lb 2, w 7, nb 2) 13
Total (35.3 overs) 168
FoW: 1-22 (Brown), 2-22 (Thompson), 3-42 (Richardson), 4-123 (Bracewell), 5-123 (Queri), 6-154 (Clarke), 7-156 (Beaven), 8-159 (Dhar), 9-168 (Eckersley)
Bowling: Lee 8-0-43-2, Patterson 5-1-16-0, Pyrah 5-1-17-1, Hodgson 3-0-24-0, Root 4-0-25-0, Randhawa 8-1-27-3, Sayers 2.3-0-12-3
Yorkshire won by 95 runs
Yorkshire 2 points; MCC Young Cricketers 0 points
Umpires: GD Lloyd and A Clark. Scorers: H Clayton and AP Scarlett
Words and Statistics: MICHAEL SNOOK