Congratulations to Yorkshire County Cricket club

[Ihor Lewyk]

Congratulations to Yorkshire County cricket club on emulating the Chess team in winning the national county championship.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/29168442

How often has that happened I wonder?

[Mick Norris]

With the Tour de France Grand Depart, and winning medals at the Commonwealth Games, it has been a really good sporting year (apart from football)

[MartinCarpenter]

Especially over this side of the Pennines

If this hasn't happened before its definitely the chess teams fault - the cricket team did rather own the trophy until recent decades! Hopefully they'll keep the team together rather longer than last time round.

[David Robertson]

Most of Yorkshire's championship wins were before the invention of over-arm bowling. By contrast, most of Warwickshire's championship wins have been since the invention of the interweb thingie. This must not be overlooked.

Moreover, Yorkshire can thank Lancashire for wrapping up the title already. Earlier in the season, Warwickshire were about to beat Lancashire when a small shower interrupted play at a crucial moment. The Lancs players sprinted for the pavillion. Although the umpires never left the square, and the shower quickly passed, the Lancashire players refused to return to the field even when summoned by the umpires. The umpires had to go and get them, dragging them out to play. That took fifteen minutes. Shortly after play resumed, heavier rain returned and the game was abandoned, drawn. Warwickshire had needed 20 runs off four overs. We woz robbed! So I've been mightily happy to see Lancashire get what they deserve this season. (And they fluked us out of the 2011 title!)

Still, it has to be conceded the Tykes have played well this year; some good players there. But one to watch from Warwickshire: Sam Hain, just turned 19 - the new Ian Bell. His last five knocks have been: 134, 121, 179*, 154*, 206. The middle three were for the 2nd XI while the Bears were doing their 'white-ball' stuff. Even so, impressive

[Matt Mackenzie]

(And they fluked us out of the 2011 title!)

We did no such thing

About our less than stellar form since - don't care. I have seen us lift the holy grail after 77 years of hurt and that is enough

[Kevin Thurlow]

Yes, a glorious victory. I think the closest wins were by 9 wickets or by 200 runs plus, and there were several by an innings and plenty...

It is particularly gratifying, given that Root, Ballance and Plunkett missed most of the season, and that other players missed crucial games playing pointless representative matches, added to England trying to call up a rather out of form Bresnan for T20s. It was typical ECB spite stopping Andrew Gale from attending the presentation ceremony.

And some oaf from PCA, when talking about poor old Moeen Ali getting booed, picked on Yorkshire by saying Jimmy Anderson gets booed at Headingley. I think Jimmy is a great player, but he gets booed everywhere outside Lancashire doesn't he?

A match between Yorkshire and England would be quite interesting. Assuming the Yorkshire players play for Yorkshire, they might even be favourites. Man for man, it's really only Bell, Anderson and maybe Broad and Buttler who are better than their counterparts, not that I want the entire Yorkshire team in Test matches! Luckily, the establishment doesn't like Rashid, so we'll have one player left.

[Leonard Barden]

A match between Yorkshire and England would be quite interesting.

Long ago in September 1947 I watched such a match when Middlesex, the then champion county, played the Rest of England at the Oval. It was the golden summer of Edrich and Compton, and they managed to make two big partnerships in the same innings. They put on 138 unbeaten for the fourth wicket, then Compton retired, I think with an injury to his suspect knee, before returning when the fourth wicket fell and they added another 82. I can recall Compton going down on his suspect knee for several of his favourite sweep shots. When the Rest, minus Hutton so not at full strength, batted Washbrook went for a duck and they never recovered, losing by nine wickets.
It was one of the very few cricket matches I ever witnessed, so I was lucky, though my mind couldn't escape the looming spectre of two years national service about to start.

[Chris Rice]

Here's the score card, some great names!

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/c ... 94574.html

[MartinCarpenter]

Looks to have been impressively close to Compton vs the rest of England He did at least let the 'proper' bowlers take a few more of the wickets in the second innings.....

Some very good players in the RoE and think they'd be favourites vs Yorkshire right now. Combine with one of Lancashire or Durham and it'd be very close and you'd likely back a 'northern' team vs the rest.

[Paul Bielby]

Thanks for that scorecard. Chris. It reminded me that I was at that match too - just on the Monday. Pity I never met you there, Leonard. I was with a group of fellow schoolboys from St Dunstan's College in Catford and can remember a very bad tempered Cyril Washbrook refusing to give us any autographs on the way out at the end. We put it down to his just having scored a duck. Of course we were all Compton worshippers at that time..

[Kevin Thurlow]

I found myself sitting next to Godfrey Evans at the Oval once, (I think Aus v WI in 1975 World Cup) and he was most entertaining. At one stage, Denis Compton came over so that was a bonus. He had clearly been in the bar earlier...

The current Yorkshire team is good, but whether they could rank alongside the teams of the 30s (Holmes, Sutcliffe, Verity, Bowes etc.) or the 60s (Boycott, Sharpe, Close, Illingworth, Trueman, etc.) is another matter. Don't get me started on Hirst and Rhodes.