TEAM NEWS
Yorkshire: Adam Lyth, William Luxton, Sam Whiteman, James Wharton, Matthew Revis, Jonny Bairstow (C & WK), George Hill, Dom Bess, Kuldeep Yadav, Ben Cliff, Jack White.
Essex: Dean Elgar, Paul Walter, Tom Westley (C), Charlie Allison, Matt Critchley, Luc Benkenstein, George Bell (WK), Shane Snater, Zaman Akhter, Mitch Killeen (replaced by Sam Cook), Jamie Porter (replaced by Mitch Killeen).
MATCH DETAILS
Umpires: James Middlebrook & Steve O'Shaughnessy
Match Referee: Peter Such
Scorers: John Potter & Paul Parkinson
Toss: Yorkshire won the toss and elected to bat
Result: Yorkshire won by an innings and 106 runs
DAY THREE REACTION: TOM WESTLEY
“It’s always disappointing losing, but sometimes you have to say, ‘Credit to the opposition’. They outplayed us in every single department, and we’ve had another extremely poor game, no poorer than myself.
“The toss was very important, but that’s not making excuses. We were going to bat because we knew it was a used wicket. We knew it was going to spin, and they knew we didn’t have Simon Harmer and they had a world-class spinner (in Kuldeep Yadav).
“I thought when we had them five down (139, first innings), it was a similar position to what we’ve had teams in over a number of years. But we can’t seem to take those last five wickets for a few runs. They batted really well, partnerships right down their order. That put us under pressure straightaway.
“Yadav and George Hill bowled exceptionally well. Getting off to two poor starts in both innings, you’re never going to come back from that."
DAY THREE HIGHLIGHTS
DAY THREE REPORT
Kuldeep Yadav and George Hill swamped Essex with spin and seam as Yorkshire raced to a three-day innings and 106-run victory at Headingley which all but secured their Rothesay County Championship top-flight future.
Dom Bess’s unbeaten 80 was the cornerstone of their first-innings 390 into day two before Essex slipped to 171 all out in reply and then 113 all out having been asked to follow-on.
Superb India left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep finished with career best first-class match figures of 10 for 120; four for 70 from 20 overs in the first innings and added six for 50 from 16 in the second. Hill added two wickets in the second innings to three in the first. He struck four times today.
Thanks to a 22-point haul, secured during the latter stages of the afternoon, Yorkshire now have significant breathing space from the bottom two places with two games to go. A sixth defeat for Essex, though, ensures they continue to look over their shoulders, especially with title-chasing Warwickshire to play at Chelmsford next week.
Yorkshire prised out the remaining three wickets in the Essex innings, though George Bell and Zaman Akhter delayed things by completing an eighth-wicket partnership of 68.
Bell, in his first innings for Essex since joining on loan from Lancashire last week, played very nicely for an unbeaten 64, including slog-sweeping Bess for six late on day two.
He reached his fifty off 90 balls before seeing Akhter caught behind off Hill, who also bowled Sam Cook to finish with three for 12 from 9.4 overs. Sandwiched in between, Kuldeep bowled Mitch Killeen.
Yorkshire enforced the follow-on and struck twice inside the first nine overs through Hill, who had Dean Elgar caught behind and Tom Westley trapped lbw.
And when Kuldeep struck twice in as many balls immediately before lunch, Essex were 14 for four after 12 overs and in all sorts of bother. Charlie Allison chipped to short mid-on before Matt Critchley was bowled through the gate.
While Kuldeep missed out on a hat-trick, he did claim the fifth Essex wicket - with the score on 26 - when Luc Benkenstein edged to first slip.
And Bell was back at the crease less than two hours after completing his first-innings effort.
He shared 40 with opener Paul Walter and contributed 28. He slog-swept Kuldeep for four, while Walter hoisted Bess’s off-spin for a straight six.
However, Kuldeep struck again when he had Bell, playing back, caught behind with the score on 66.
In the next over, Bess had Shane Snater lbw offering no shot before Kuldeep bowled Akhter, also offering no shot, to a big turner of a delivery with the score now reading 84 for eight.
Paul Walter resisted with 48, but when Bess accounted for him Essex were nine down and all that was left was for Kuldeep to wrap up the Essex innings for 113.
DAY TWO REACTION: MATT CRITCHLEY
On a personal note, it was nice to get a few overs and some rewards at the end. But, again, another difficult day for us.
“Kuldeep got those two wickets just before tea, and he’s a world-class operator.
“You don't bowl spin for India if you aren't one of the best in the world, so he bowled nicely there and we had a tough little period either side of tea.
“It was nice to see how Dean played there to make it through a little period. Then Belly, I thought he played nicely. We'll have to just try and do that going forward and see where we end up."
DAY TWO HIGHLIGHTS
DAY TWO REPORT
Yorkshire’s spin twins Dom Bess and Kuldeep Yadav combined with bat and ball to pile the pressure on Essex at the midway point of their crucial Rothesay County Championship clash at Headingley.
Bess contributed an excellent, determined unbeaten 80 to Yorkshire’s imposing first-innings 390 all out midway through the afternoon. He shared 83 for the eighth wicket with Kuldeep, 36.
The pair then struck three times apiece, Kuldeep with his effervescent left-arm wrist spin and Bess with his off-spin as Essex crumbled to 97 for seven and closed on 137 for seven. Both sides are hovering just above the Division One relegation zone.
Matt Critchley claimed five for 85 with his leg-spin in an already depleted Essex attack which lost Jamie Porter to injury before lunch.
Yorkshire advanced from an overnight 241 for six to reach lunch at 335 for seven.
They lost George Hill caught and bowled by Shane Snater for 40 before Bess and Kuldeep ground the visitors down somewhat.
Essex weren’t helped by the loss of Porter, who pulled up in his run-up towards the end of his 21st over and had to leave the field, with Bess going on to reach a 100-ball fifty immediately before lunch.
Bess and Kuldeep were set to have a significant say in the outcome of this fixture with the ball given the spin-friendly pitch. But it was a significant bonus to Yorkshire that they impacted things positively with the bat too.
The pair shared 83 either side of lunch before the latter smeared a return catch to Critchley, leaving Yorkshire on 364 for eight in the 112th over. Yorkshire had picked up two batting bonus points, Essex two with the ball.
Bess is a compact and extremely capable batter, and he never really attacked in this innings. It was more about steady accumulation against a weary-looking bowling attack en-route to his first fifty since last April.
That doesn’t quite tell the story of his batting form this season, with him having contributed a flurry of thirties and forties from the lower middle order.
Critchley claimed the last three wickets, getting Ben Cliff caught and Jack White lbw after lunch.
Confirmation that England Test seamer Sam Cook has been parachuted into this game came during the early stages of Essex’s innings, with him replacing Mitch Killeen.
However, Killeen remains a part of this game having been named as the injury substitution for Porter.
Kuldeep, who didn’t bowl a ball in Yorkshire’s seam-dominated defeat to Surrey at The Kia Oval last week - neither did Bess for that matter, then struck with his fourth ball when Paul Walter was trapped lbw, leaving Essex at 15 for one.
That became 15 for two at tea, with Kuldeep bowling Tom Westley in his second over.
To have someone of Kuldeep’s quality - not too far short of 400 international wickets across all formats - playing in the Championship highlights its standing as the premier red-ball competition in the world.
New man in Charlie Allison briefly attacked Kuldeep after tea, including lofting him down the ground for six. But that was short-lived as he was trapped lbw on 15, with Hill removing Critchley the same way in the next over as the score slipped to 32 for four in the 18th over.
Dean Elgar and Luc Benkenstein settled things briefly for their side. But they needed more than a 34-run alliance, with both men falling lbw to Bess.
Benkenstein went first and then Elgar on 34 before Bess bowled Snater to leave the visitors seven down and still short of three figures.
On-loan Lancashire wicketkeeper-batter George Bell played nicely for 42 not out.
But Essex have a mountain to climb. They need 104 more to avoid the follow-on.
DAY ONE REACTION: CHRIS SILVERWOOD
“Yorkshire got off to a decent start with that hundred partnership. We would have loved that catch to have stuck early on (Lyth on 7), but it didn’t.
“There was a passage of play there, probably an hour, where we really dragged it back, taking those five wickets. That got us back into the game.
“I would say on a whole we're probably evenly balanced, but there are certainly things we could have done better as well.
“(Simon Harmer recall by South Africa). They’ve pulled everybody back from what I'm hearing. These things happen. I've seen it happen before around the world, so there's nothing you can do about it. You’ve just got to roll with it, really.
“(On a potential Sam Cook inclusion in this game should he not be picked by England tomorrow) Watch this space. We’ll see what happens with that one.”
DAY ONE HIGHLIGHTS
DAY ONE REPORT
Matt Critchley and Shane Snater inspired a superb afternoon Essex fightback with the ball to stymie strong Yorkshire progress during a weather-interrupted opening day at Headingley.
Two sides had periods of success during a day which saw only 70 overs bowled because of rain, with Yorkshire slipping from 121 without loss to close on 241 for six.
Openers Adam Lyth and Will Luxton contributed 62 and 50 respectively but were part of a collapse of five wickets for 18 runs after lunch on the same pitch used for the recent England versus Pakistan Test Match.
Leg-spinner Critchley and seamer Snater claimed two wickets apiece after Jamie Porter made the initial breakthrough for an Essex side shorn of internationals Simon Harmer, Sam Cook and Jordan Cox. England Lions all-rounder Matthew Revis later helped settle the hosts with 61.
The best part of an hour was lost to rain this morning and again in the early evening.
Yorkshire advanced to 50 without loss at lunch having elected to bat and were in a position of significant strength on a pitch which showed signs of taking turn.
Lyth and Luxton drove nicely, with the former taking three boundaries in four balls off Zaman Akhter’s seam during the early stages of the afternoon as he moved into the thirties and took Yorkshire to 72 after 17 overs.
On a pitch which is expected to become increasingly spin friendly, they were in excellent order.
But the balance of power shifted dramatically, with Yorkshire losing those aforementioned five wickets inside nine overs to slip alarmingly from 121 without loss.
Porter bowled Luxton before Sam Whiteman followed caught at short fine-leg sweeping at Critchley.
It was Whiteman’s third successive duck and fourth in six Championship innings. He recorded a pair in last week’s three-day defeat at Surrey.
Lyth followed trapped lbw by Snater, James Wharton miscued a pull at Critchley to mid-on and Jonny Bairstow was trapped lbw pushing forwards at Snater.
Having taken time to settle, Essex were very much into their work in a battle between two sides looking over their shoulders.
The seesaw nature of this day further highlighted the exciting nature of the premier red-ball competition in the world.
Yorkshire reached tea at 147 for five in the face of Essex’s superb fightback before more rain.
When play resumed, Revis took three eye-catching boundaries through the covers off one Porter over to take the score to 163 for five.
He united with fellow all-rounder George Hill, a man whose own England credentials are being talked up in White Rose circles, to help Yorkshire battle back from their early-afternoon troubles.
Revis reached his fifty off 70 balls, by which time the hosts were 221 for five and in safer waters once more.
He shared 94 with Hill (24 not out) before being trapped lbw by Mitch Killeen - 233 for six.
Given the position Yorkshire were in just after lunch, Essex will surely be the happier of the two counties heading into day two.
