Will Rhodes and Dom Sibley guide Warwickshire to nervy Yorkshire win

The visitors nurdled their way to their target to win by three wickets but not before being given a scare at York

York: (third day of four): Yorkshire 259 & 211, Warwickshire 254 & 219-7 - Warwickshire won by three wickets

Scorecard

Warwickshire’s Specsavers County Championship resurgence continued as former Yorkshire opener Will Rhodes and Dom Sibley starred in a largely confident, but late on nervy, final day pursuit of 217 at York’s Clifton Park.

The Bears, who had lost their first three Division One matches this season, are now unbeaten in their last three, including two victories, after Rhodes hit 83 and in-form opening partner Sibley 81.

This win, completed with three wickets to spare and 10 overs remaining, yielded 21 points and elevated them into sixth place. 

But Sibley fell to a stunning one-handed diving catch at mid-off from Steve Patterson off left-arm spinner James Logan, the 21-year-old who claimed his first four first-class victims in his second game as Warwickshire lost six wickets for 49 to slip to 215 for 7 before Jeetan Patel hit the winning runs.

Fourth-placed Yorkshire suffered their first defeat in seven games, a particular disappointment for them given this was the first county game in York since 1890.

Rhodes, who hit 26 off an afternoon over from former team-mate Jack Leaning, and Sibley did the bulk of the leg work on a pitch which slowed up through the four days and proved tough to score on for the majority of time.

Sibley, who hit 67 in the first innings, and ex-White Rose left-hander Rhodes shared 132 inside 37 overs for the first wicket either side of lunch, Warwickshire’s highest opening partnership of the season. 

Rhodes hit nine fours and three sixes in 107 balls and Sibley nine fours and a six in 167.

Rhodes swapped Headingley for Edgbaston ahead of 2018, but he still plays league cricket at nearby Stamford Bridge. All three of his sixes came off Leaning’s off-spin in the 31st over, reaching 50 in the process.

Warwickshire, 80 without loss at the start of the over, went on to score 40 off the next three before Rhodes was bowled off an inside-edge by David Willey.

However, Sibley continued his partner’s good work after tea.

^{Dom Sibley enhanced calls for an England call-up with another half century}

An opener in fine form with 721 first-class runs this season, he is emerging as a late Ashes contender and was watched by the ECB’s technical director Andy Flower.

He reached his second fifty of the match off 122 balls in the final over of the afternoon and later flicked Ben Coad for six over backward square-leg to take the score beyond 150 for one before the late wobble raised home hopes. 

Earlier, Yorkshire advanced their second innings from 178 for 7 overnight, leading by 183, to 211 all out, including Patel’s 700th and 701st wickets in all formats for Warwickshire.  

Seamer Oliver Hannon-Dalby, like Rhodes, also started his career with Yorkshire, and he took the first wicket by forcing Patterson to chop on.

Hannon-Dalby, celebrating his 30th birthday, finished with four wickets and a career-best match haul of 9-137. 

Visiting captain Patel also picked up four wickets having bowled Logan and trapped Leaning lbw for 65 on the slog sweep. 

Ex-New Zealand off-spinner Patel signed for Warwickshire in 2009, six years after spending a season with York.

Leaning, a current York player, grafted hard in 187 balls and advanced from 47 overnight.

Warwickshire’s chase started with 76 overs remaining, and they reached lunch on 20 without loss from eleven as Rhodes and Sibley blunted new ball pair of Patterson and Ben Coad.

After lunch, the pair began to expand as they surpassed their previous highest stand of 58 in the first innings of the draw against Surrey at Edgbaston last month.

Yorkshire claimed five points from this fixture.

Courtesy of the ECB reporters network

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