Record defeat is demoralising, says Patterson
CAPTAIN Steve Patterson says he has suffered as difficult a week as he has experienced as Yorkshire slumped to a consecutive heavy defeat in the Specsavers County Championship.
Having been crushed by Somerset last week by 298 runs, the White Rose were thrashed by 433 runs by Kent at Emerald Headingley.
Chasing a target of 551 - a world record had they achieved it - Yorkshire started day four in tatters at 44-6, and they were bowled out for 117 shortly before lunch on the final day.
It was Kent’s biggest ever victory in terms of runs in their first-class history and Yorkshire’s heaviest runs defeat. It was also the fourth heaviest in the history of the County Championship.
Kent claimed a maximum 24 points from their fifth win of the season and move up to fourth in the table, two points behind Hampshire in third - with the two sides meeting for a finalround clash at the Spitfire St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury, next week.
Yorkshire’s fourth defeat of the campaign yielded five points and sees them slip from third at the start of the week to fifth in the table.
They are 10 points behind Hampshire having suffered their second successive defeat and end the season against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.
“It’s very disappointing. In the first 40 minutes to an hour of the game, we started really well. From there, it was all downhill,” said skipper Patterson.
“We lost last week at Somerset and were outplayed. You can accept that.
“But we came back here to home conditions and felt we had a good chance to win the game.
“Obviously after that middle session on day one, we were always up against it and never fought our way back.
“It’s a shame. To have two such heavy defeats back to back is really demoralising after some good stuff prior to that.
“That’s as difficult a week as I’ve ever experienced.
“As captain, it makes it even harder to take than as a player because you feel more responsible for everything. You question yourself, ‘Is there anything I could have done differently?’.
“I think we were all very, very below what we’re capable of. When you have that many players under par, it’s hard to compete with teams.”