Said Dickie: Future England and Yorkshire captains long after I have

Said Dickie: “Future England and Yorkshire captains long after I have gone will be adjusting their tactics by this clock”.. After a month of brilliant weather, bad light would have prevented a start and at the exact moment of the ceremony a sheet of rain passed across the ground. Taylor confirmed his temperament as an opener, while Blakey’s resolute knock ended at first slip.That God has a sense of humour had been confirmed earlier when the Dickie Bird clock, on the West Stand, was unveiled by the club president, Robin Smith, before play began. Michael Lumb’s attacking instinct ended in a slip catch, Gary Fellows was undone by a skidder, while Gavin Hamilton, a batsman on hot bricks, ought to be allowed to find some form in the second team.Chris Taylor and Blakey unknowingly steered Yorkshire past the shadow of their heaviest defeat by an innings and 272 at The Oval in 1898, their stand of 49 in 17 overs being interrupted by rain. Lehmann suffered a rare double failure, playing back and offering a tame return catch. The pitch, offering variable bounce, was no help to Yorkshire’s confidence.The nightwatchman Ryan Sidebottom bludgeoned two boundaries before being comprehensively skittled.

True, but it is Yorkshire who are actually paying them to produce winning teams.Yorkshire’s second innings, torpedoed twice on Thursday evening, resumed on 0 for 2 when the rain and near gale abated at 1.25pm. Whether this has got through to Wayne Clark and Darren Lehmann, coach and captain, is a crucial question.The two Australians did not endear themselves to local television audiences by their eve-of-season declaration that their job, said with a smile, was to produce players for England. One-day trophies are still regarded as small currency in these parts. That Gough, White and McGrath might be ready for one or both of next week’s Benson & Hedges matches is of little comfort.

There were still alternatives: Richard Dawson and Vic Craven were on call, Richard Blakey could have moved up the order and Simon Guy, who scored 92 for the second XI this week, could have played as wicketkeeper. They were unconvinced by the reasons given for David Byas’s departure, they had been unhappy with team selections and they are now angry.
Given that, for various reasons, Darren Gough, Craig White, Michael Vaughan, Matthew Hoggard and Antony McGrath were unavailable (while Surrey fielded nine Test players). This was ignominy.Add the scandal of the missing £90,000 from the club shop, it is no surprise to hear mutterings from members about an Extraordinary General Meeting. Since winning the Championship last September, Yorkshire lost to Surrey by an innings and 46 runs, to relegated Essex by 51 runs, lost all five pre-season tour matches and yesterday afternoon went down to one of the heaviest home defeats in their history. Noffke removed Darren Bicknell (46), Guy Welton (51) and Usman Afzaal (11) as the visitors, following on after a first innings of 159, reached the close on 156 for 4.In the only other Second Division game to see any action, Northamptonshire took their overnight score of 254 for 0 to 380 for 2 in reply to Worcestershire’s first innings of 524 for 8 declared.The rain which caused delays at all yesterday’s Championship matches prevented any play between Derbyshire and Durham, and Gloucestershire and Essex.. They resumed yesterday on 245 for 8 in their first innings, but added only a further 28 in reply to the visitors’ impressive total of 428.In the Second Division, Middlesex’s Australian bowler Ashley Noffke took three quick wickets at Lord’s on another rain-affected third day to leave Nottinghamshire 147 behind and facing an innings defeat. After following on they are 81 for 2 and still trail by 74 runs.