MICHAEL Vaughan’s England chances and Yorkshire’s victory ambitions seem equally far away after a disappointing weekend against Sussex at Headingley.
With exactly a month until the Ashes begin, time is running out for the former captain to barge himself back into the reckoning and his dismissal for a duck won’t go unnoticed by the selectors.
Vaughan’s rueful face told the story as he made his way from the middle – outdone by an excellent swinging delivery from the Corey Collymore before being well caught at first slip by Ollie Rayner.
If Vaughan’s chances of a recall to the national set-up are dwindling then so is his side’s quest for a first championship win of the season at the mid-point stage of their fourth game.
Resuming on 58 for two, after only 31 overs could be played on the first day, the Tykes were constantly under pressure in bowler friendly conditions and only an excellent eighth-wicket partnership saw them post a total which keeps them in the game.
Before the returning Gerard Brophy and David Wainwright came together at the crease the Tykes slumped to 110 for seven.
Most of that was due to the Collymore who was excellent at using the overhead conditions to his advantage to finish with figures of 4 for 68.
He began proceedings to get rid of captain Anthony McGrath in just the third over on day two, before Andrew Gale, Joe Sayers, Tim Bresnan and Rana Naved were all sent back to the pavilion with the score just over the three figure mark.
Brophy and Wainwright’s stand of 96 not only brought Yorkshire back into the game but also saw them earn a first batting bonus point.
By the time Wainwright misjudged a pull off Collymore to give Robin Martin- Jenkins an easy catch the score had moved onto 210 and that brought Azeem Rafiq to the crease to make his championship debut.
The 18-year-old looked composed to make 13 before falling to Dwayne Smith and, with Deon Kruis out two balls later for nought, any chance of a second batting point was gone.
Brophy ended unbeaten on 75 and Yorkshire all-out for 225.
The Tykes’ bowlers at least gave them some hope of an unlikely success on days three and four. Kruis took no time in making inroads into the Sussex batting line-up.
He trapped Mike Yardy for eight in the fourth over before Michael Thornely fell in the same way to Rana Naved with just 34 runs scored.
Despite Murray Goodwin also losing his wicket to a brilliant catch in the slips by Joe Sayers off Anthony Mc- Grath no more damage could be done before the close.
Scoreboard
Yorkshire v Sussex At Headingley Carnegie
Overnight: Yorkshire 58-2.
Yorkshire First Innings
J J Sayers b Martin-Jenkins .................29
A McGrath c Rayner b Collymore ..........24
A W Gale c Martin-Jenkins b Lewry ......11
G L Brophy not out ........................75
T T Bresnan c Hodd b Martin-Jenkins ... 7
Naved ul-Hasan lbw b Martin-Jenkins ... 1
D Wainwright c M-Jenkins b Collymore 36
Rafiq c Rayner b D R Smith ...................13
G J Kruis c Joyce b D R Smith .............. 0
Extras (b1 lb11 w2 pens 0)..........14
Total (94.5 overs) ...................225
Fall: 1-19 2-19 3-58 4-75 5-95 6-108 7-110 8-206 9-225
Bowling: Lewry 27-8-66-1. Collymore 27-9- 68-4. Martin-Jenkins 18-5-38-3. D R Smith 9.5-4-22-2. Rayner 13-4-19-0.
Sussex First Innings Close
M H Yardy lbw b Kruis ........................... 8
M A Thornely lbw b Naved-ul-Hasan ..... 8
E C Joyce not out ....................38
M W Goodwin c Sayers b McGrath ....... 0
M J Prior not out .....................18
Extras (lb3 w1 nb2 pens 0).......... 6
Total 3 wkts (33 overs).................78
Fall: 1-9 2-34 3-43
To Bat: A J Hodd, D R Smith, R S C Martin- Jenkins, O P Rayner, C D Collymore, J D Lewry.
Bonus Pts: Yorkshire 1 Sussex 3
Bowling: Bresnan 12-4-23-0. Kruis 8-2-18-1.
Naved-ul-Hasan 7-1-19-1. McGrath 6-2-15-1.
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