Missed opportunities could prove costly for Yorkshire

HOW often do you hear a manager or a coach say that they would be even more worried if their side was not creating chances as opposed to simply not taking them?

Why, it is a common refrain in football especially.

“Yes, I know that we can’t hit a barn door from 10 yards, but at least we’re getting into the penalty area on a regular basis…”

Or, in cricket: “Yes, I know that we’ve dropped lots of catches this season, but at least we’re finding the edge of the bat…”

And so on.

Ottis Gibson, the Yorkshire head coach, can console himself that his team – or, to be more precise, his bowlers – are creating plenty of chances in Championship cricket, but only a disproportionate number are being accepted.

It has already cost them several chances to press home potentially match-winning positions – the impediment of flat pitches and soft balls notwithstanding – and they will be hoping it is not a case of history repeating at the Ageas Bowl.

Yesterday, another catch was spilled and a stumping missed – the former difficult, the latter less so – as Hampshire reached the halfway stage of the game at 225-4 in reply to Yorkshire’s firstinnings 428.

Although Yorkshire have the upper hand, their position could, really should have been better.

First, the dropped catch… The total was 67-2 on a sunny afternoon when Matthew Revis found the edge of Nick Gubbins’s blade, the ball flying high towards the slips.

A leaping Adam Lyth at second was unable to cling on; ditto Will Fraine at first as he dived in an effort to take the rebound.

Gubbins, 31 at the time, went on to 58 – not especially costly in terms of runs, perhaps, but frustrating for Revis and Yorkshire all the same, and a blow to their momentum,

Fast forward to the evening session and the score had risen to 130-4 when off-spinner Dom Bess lured Ben Brown out of his crease only for wicketkeeper Harry Duke to fluff his lines.

Brown, 11 at the time, had advanced to 52 at stumps, his fifthwicket stand with Liam Dawson, who top-scored with 61, worth 114.

On such fine margins are games not won and opportunities to enforce the follow-on missed, particularly in this summer of runs galore, and although Dawson was guilty of the day’s worst drop, spilling the simplest of chances when Bess, on eight, edged Keith Barker to second early in the piece – Bess going on to 51 not out – it was another tale of what might have been.

Bess had two to his name when Yorkshire started day two on 3245, the visitors going on to 384-6 by the time of the 110-over cut-off mark to claim four batting bonus points.

Matthew Waite fell in the fifth over, adding only three to his overnight 38, the all-rounder undone by a bit of extra bounce from Barker as Dawson this time took a much simpler catch low down at second.

The last four wickets fell to Brad Wheal, the Scotland pace bowler, who had Jordan Thompson edging a back foot drive to the solitary slip, Matthew Revis leg-before, Dominic Drakes brilliantly caught by wicketkeeper Brown high in his left hand off a top-edged hook (Drakes intimated that he made no contact) and Steve Patterson bowled making room to hit to the offside.

It left Bess stranded after a fine innings that spanned 84 balls and included nine boundaries, one of the more memorable a delightful paddle-sweep off Dawson, the left-arm spinner.

Thompson struck twice in his first three overs as Hampshire fell to 12-2, Ian Holland caught behind from a ball that jagged away and Felix Organ leg-before.

Gubbins played some handsome strokes off Patterson particularly, who was not quite his usual accurate self and wore the look of a man who knew it.

Matthew Waite got the key wicket of James Vince with one that looked as if it might perhaps have been missing leg stump, or at least Vince thought so, which left Hampshire 94-3, and they slipped to 111-4 when Patterson came back well to tempt Gubbins into edging behind the fourth ball after tea.

Then came the missed stumping and the fine stand between Dawson and Brown, although Waite was adamant that he had Brown leg-before for 14 only for the umpire to rule otherwise.

Those fine margins again...