Yorkshire 203-8 Surrey: McGrath thriving on 'fresh air' of Yorkshire
Saturday, 21 July 2007
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Darren Gough knew last February that he had to persuade Anthony McGrath to change his mind about leaving Yorkshire. After returning to his home county as captain, Gough made this task his priority. Five months later, McGrath is underlining his captain's foresight repeatedly.
He did so again yesterday, continuing a scoring sequence that has yielded 545 runs in his last seven innings, all bar one of which has taken him past 50 and twice into three figures, including a career-best 188 not out against Warwickshire last week. Yesterday's 72, backed up by Adil Rashid's unbeaten 42, gave substance to a score that would otherwise have seen the Championship leaders in some trouble.
It reflects a transformation in the mood of the 31-year-old all-rounder, who had described the atmosphere in the Yorkshire dressing room before Gough's return as "unbearable".
Even after Gough had convinced him he should stay, he negotiated a get-out clause in his contract, to be activated if things did not improve. Recently, however, he announced that he could not see himself leaving. "The way things are now is fantastic," he said. "Darren Gough and Martyn Moxon [Yorkshire's new director of cricket] have been like a breath of fresh air."
He might have expressed his well-being more emphatically still yesterday but for the skill of Harbajhan Singh, the off-spinner omitted from India's current Test side, who found bounce and turn to take three wickets in 24 balls at a cost of one run to reduce Yorkshire from 191 for 5 to 203 for 8 before bad light and rain curtailed play after 63 overs, tipping the balance in Surrey's favour.
Yorkshire had chosen to bat first, which was surprising given the cloud cover. The pitch played well enough but, with the ball swinging, Matt Nicholson and Rikki Clarke made inroads that, McGrath apart, were interrupted to any degree only by Younis Khan, until he carved loosely to point, and Gerard Brophy.
McGrath and Rashid combined to fight back, adding 67 for the sixth wicket until the former, seeking to flick a ball to the leg side, was caught off bat and pad at silly point, after which Tim Bresnan and Jason Gillespie were quickly snared at forward short leg.
Rashid, 19, coped well against Harbajhan, supporting Moxon's argument that the leg-spinning all-rounder's cricket education is better served playing for his county than England's Under-19 side, to which he has been compulsorily seconded for almost three weeks next month.
