News Archive - May 2002

Yorkshire Phoenix continued their winning start in the Norwich Union League with a 5-wicket victory over the Kent Spitfires at Canterbury.

The Spitfires won the toss and elected to bat first. However an early Kirby wicket saw Captain Fleming out without making a run and opener Key followed after being bowled to Bresnan with the side only on 12.
Kent�s middle order fought back with Walker making a half-century. Some good bowling by the Phoenix saw wickets fall to Craig White who�s figures were 3-23 and another each to Kirby and Bresnan left the home side bowled out for 180 in the final over.

Yorkshire Phoenix�s innings started off in almost identical fashion to Kent�s with opener White bowled for 0. Matthew Wood steadied the side before being bowled out by Ealham on 27. Captain Darren Lehmann came to the crease and led his side to victory unbeaten on 69 helped by Gary Fellows who was 35 not out. The 181 target was reached in 41.2 overs.

Yorkshire and England batsman Michael Vaughan helped England fightback in Day 4 of the 1st npower Test Match v Sri Lanka.

Vaughan scored his second Test hundred and may have helped England avoid what had looked like being an easy victory for the Sri Lankans.

Vaughan who was dropped twice early on in his innings made 115 including 18 fours before being caught by Sangakkara off the bowling of Perera just before tea.

Yorkshire were today staring at their third successive championship defeat.

The champion�s disappointing start continued against Kent yesterday when,
after finally bowling out the hosts for 418, Yorkshire slumped to 22-2 at
the close in their second innings.

The Tykes are still 159 runs adrift of Kent and much was resting on the
shoulders of skipper Darren Lehmann and Craig White if Yorkshire are to
avoid another humiliating defeat.

To make matters worse, Yorkshire slumped to the bottom of the first division
yesterday after Warwickshire's maximum batting-haul against Hampshire saw
them climb off the foot of the table.

Hamilton back after bad case of the yips

FROM YORKSHIRE EVENING POST BY PAUL DEWS

GAVIN HAMILTON hit the comeback trail today with Yorkshire's second XI at Worcestershire. The Tyke all-rounder is playing his first game since suffering a major crisis of confidence at the start of the new season. In golfing parlance, Hamilton's troubles would be described as a bout of the yips after his bowling seemingly went to pieces. The 27-year-old struggled to find any rhythm in the pre-season friendly clash against Bradford-Leeds UCCE � he bowled a 12-ball over � yet earned a stay of execution for the championship opener against Surrey. That proved the final straw, though, and on the advice of coach Wayne Clark, Hamilton was told to take a break from cricket. "I honestly don't know what the problem was," conceded Scotland-born Hamilton. "I've no idea what happened in the game against the University side and I'm hoping it was just a little blip. "Before that game I'd bowled well in the other practice matches, probably as well as I'd bowled in four or five years. "I went into the Uni game full of confidence and for whatever reason things just went wrong that day." Punched Hamilton's final match figures of 1-28 from eight overs did not tell the full story. What revealed more was the way he jubilantly punched the air after an over which contained three wides and three no-balls.
Hamilton's frustrations were felt by his team-mates and the crowd, and after coming through the Surrey game relatively unscathed the decision was taken to take a break.
"It was Wayne's idea for me to take a week off," explained Hamilton, who was hoping to use the early weeks of the season to rediscover the consistency which saw him win an England call-up four years ago.
"Because we couldn't pin-point the problem it was decided that the best thing was just to take a bit of time away.
"It hasn't really been a complete break because I've spoken to a lot of people about what's happened and I don't think I'm the only one ever to go through this sort of spell."
Missing the Tykes' Benson & Hedges Cup qualifiers and the championship trip to Somerset hit Hamilton hard.
After a pre-season of promise, the player's hopes evaporated in the space of less than half an hour against the student side at Headingley.
"There's no escaping the fact that it's affected everything, not just my bowling," he revealed.
"I'm not the sort of person to get down about things, but this has been very hard. Basically I've taken the view that bad spells happen and it's over with now.
"I was looking forward to a good season and this has lost me a few weeks, but I've got to grit my teeth and get it out of my system."
But Hamilton was today taking the opportunity to redress the balance and get things back to normal again.
A second XI trip to Barnt Green in Worcestershire is not the most glamorous of surroundings for the all-rounder's return, but Hamilton is determined to take his chance.
"I feel so much happier now I know I'm on my way back," he said.
"I haven't changed anything � I didn't want to start thinking too deeply about things because it's worked for me before so it will do again.
"I've done some work with Steve Oldham (director of cricket) and I just can't wait to start playing again now."
Hamilton may still seem some way off a first-team return, but given Yorkshire's modest start the player could come back into the reckoning next week if he rediscovers his pre-season form.

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