Payne and Gohar take four apiece as Gloucestershire seal three-day win against Yorkshire
28 September 2022
Gloucestershire completed a thrilling three-day victory at Headingley, defending 241, to heighten Yorkshire’s LV= Insurance County Championship relegation fears.
England fringe ODI seamer David Payne and fellow left-armer, the Pakistan spinner Zafar Gohar, claimed four wickets each and consigned the hosts to a sixth defeat in their last eight Division One games, bowling them out for 222, an 18-run margin.
It means that if second-bottom Warwickshire beat Hampshire in the ongoing game at Edgbaston, they will overtake Yorkshire and relegate them.
The hosts were set their target during the second half of the third morning and were going well at 69 for one before succumbing to the pressure of needing to win, despite a late and defiant unbeaten 79 off 103 balls from Dom Bess.
Gloucestershire were bowled out for 233 in their second innings, and Yorkshire enjoyed as good a morning as they could realistically have hoped for, including George Hill getting both Price brothers.
Gloucestershire, 204 for six overnight, only added 29 more runs.
Hill’s second ball, in the day’s 13th over, uprooted the off and middle stumps of Ollie Price for a well made 68, leaving the visitors at 226 for eight in the 73rd.
The skilful medium pacer, who would later add 36 with the bat, then trapped Tom Price lbw in his next over.
Earlier, Patterson made the initial breakthrough by trapping Gohar lbw. It was the seamer’s 489th and final first-class wicket.
The Gloucestershire innings was wrapped up when Ajeet Singh Dale was run out by a Matthew Fisher direct hit from mid-off, preceding the first of three standing ovations for Patterson, who has today ended 18 seasons with the county.
Yorkshire lost James Wharton to the fourth ball of their chase having dragged on against Tom Price - five for one - but Adam Lyth and Hill united to share 65 for the second wicket either side of lunch.
Lyth drove nicely, while Hill used his feet with effect against Gohar’s dangerous left-arm spin, the Pakistani always likely to be the chief threat after five wickets in the first innings.
They shared 64 for the second wicket, and things were going nicely at 69 for one in the 21st over.
But the tide was about to turn, along with the atmosphere around the ground, as Yorkshire fell to 95 for four seven overs later, undermining their chances of a second win of the season. Their first was against Gloucestershire in their opening game.
Hill was trapped lbw by Singh Dale for 36 before Tom Kohler-Cadmore lofted Gohar to long-off, falling for seven on his final Yorkshire appearance before moving to Somerset.
As he departed, having also fallen to a loose top-edged pull at Gohar in the first innings, there was stony silence until he reached the boundary rope, where he was provoked into reacting to a comment from the crowd which he did not appreciate.
Captain Jonny Tattersall lost his off-stump to Payne shortly afterwards.
Further damage was done by the same bowler when Harry Duke under-edged onto his middle stump as he tried to leave alone before Lyth gloved a vicious turner from Gohar to slip for 49, leaving Yorkshire at 119 for six in the 38th over.
Bess led his side through to tea with no further damage, but Jordan Thompson flicked Gohar to leg slip not long afterwards - 155 for seven.
Thompson fell for 11, his first double-figure score in 12 Championship innings dating back to mid-June, and then Matthew Fisher edged Payne to first slip.
At 172 for eight with 69 needed, Bess opted to counter-attack. He hoisted Gohar for six over long-on on the way to a 68-ball fifty. But Ben Coad was trapped lbw by Gohar, leaving him and last man Patterson needing 50.
Bess ramped, carved, cut and turned down singles to maintain strike in a last-ditch bid for guaranteed survival.
Patterson blocked determinedly for nought off 27 balls, but he cut Payne to Chris Dent at backward point with almost his first attacking stroke to leave Gloucestershire with a second win of 2022 and all Yorkshire eyes on Edgbaston tomorrow. Gohar finished with a superb nine wickets in the match.
