Wait of the white rose: Yorkshire's summer of 2001

JEREMY BLACKMORE: Captain David Byas and seamer Steve Kirby reminisce about the 2001 County Championship win, Yorkshire’s first since 1968

There was a fairytale feel about Yorkshire’s 2001 Championship victory. So, it was perhaps inevitable that it was David Byas who took the final catch to seal the title under blackening skies at Scarborough.

He grew up playing at North Marine Road in between working on the family farm. He forced his way into the Yorkshire side through sheer weight of club runs.

Yorkshire were riven with infighting and politics in the 1980s, but as a young player Byas focused on playing. The club had not won the Championship since 1968, and every passing year served only to remind a proud club of their lack of success in the years since.

As captain in the late 1990s, Byas moulded a fresh team of hugely talented local youngsters. Joined by a larger-than-life Australian batsman with an insatiable appetite for runs, together they restored pride to the White Rose.

And, in a real rags-to-riches story, Yorkshire’s leading wicket-taker in 2001 was a Lancastrian, the flame-haired Steve Kirby, a man with a point to prove. Having been released by Leicestershire, he was earning his living selling flooring before Yorkshire sent him an SOS when their bowling reserves became seriously depleted. 

“Scarborough was where it all started,” says Byas. “Then, however many years down the line, we won the Championship there against Glamorgan. In the midst of that, I was able to score a century in the game, take the winning catch on my home ground. You couldn’t script it.”

Byas had inherited the captaincy in 1996 from Martyn Moxon, who stayed on as senior pro and later coach. Many of the promising youngsters in the squad had grown up together and were starting to come of age.

Among their ranks was a formidable battery of quicks in Chris Silverwood, Darren Gough, Matthew Hoggard, Ryan Sidebottom, Craig White, Paul Hutchison and Gavin Hamilton. Several became mainstays in the England side but throughout Byas’ first year in charge he was able to field a largely consistent squad. Yorkshire mounted a serious challenge in both limited-overs knockout competitions and the Championship which they led until a few weeks out.

“Then, just the volume of cricket we played with a small group of players sapped us of what we needed. We just enjoyed each other’s company and we played a brand of cricket that we enjoyed and was exciting,” says Byas. 

Results indicated they were heading in the right direction. They trained as hard as anyone. Mark Nicholas, commentating on a game at Derby, marvelled at the ferocity of Yorkshire’s net practice with Silverwood and Gough running in like express trains at the batters.

They perhaps never mastered the intricacies that are so evident in the game now, says their captain, who points out that a potent attack in the longer game at times could let them down in the one-day arena because they could not adapt quickly enough: “But our Championship cricket would have been up there with anybody in the country and being Yorkshire, being a Yorkshireman through and through, that was the one thing we had to win.”

^{David Byas sealed the title with a catch on his home ground}

Yorkshire’s policy prohibiting overseas players hindered their competitiveness for many years. It was controversially changed in 1990, helping to pave the way to eventual success. Darren Lehmann’s influence at Headingley is testament to that. His contribution over 10 years with Yorkshire stands comparison with that of any overseas pro in the history of county cricket. In that time, he scored 8,871 first-class runs at 68.76, not to mention a limited-overs average of almost 50.

“Darren brought everything,” says Byas. “As an overseas pro, it’s not just what you do on the pitch, it’s how you are off it with members, players and so on. He was exceptional. His volume of runs that he could churn out was just so consistent. He delivered year in, year out, but it was his contribution in the dressing room and off the field that set him apart. He was probably the best right-hand man you could ever have. He had a terrific cricket brain.”

He was a big influence on a raw youngster like Kirby. “Darren was the best bloke I’ve played with both on and off the field. He was just brilliant to have in the dressing room. He always made you feel good and always had time for you.

“At that time, I was very, very inexperienced, very young, very aggressive in the way I went about my business. He was able to create a calmness around you. And with the bat in his hand, he was just something else. He got 250 against Lancashire in 2001 and literally just played with the bowlers. They just couldn’t bowl at the bloke. There were times where you were watching genius. He was just literally 100 every match. He was unbelievable.”

Yorkshire finished third in 1998 and 2000. On the latter occasion, points were controversially docked for an ‘unfit’ pitch at Scarborough, a decision which Byas still maintains was wrong and which denied Yorkshire a second-place finish. Importantly though, they felt the Championship was within touching distance.

So, what took them over the line in 2001, a year they were perhaps most hit by injuries and international call-ups?

Australian Wayne Clark’s appointment as coach was crucial. Despite never having set foot in England before that spring, Clark revolutionised the club’s culture. One of his biggest contributions was to stop the players focusing on winning the title and concentrate instead on individual sessions and games. Byas says: “For many years we forgot that there’s however many games between then and the finish. At times we didn’t focus on the here and now.”

Kirby agrees that Clark’s man management was exceptional, instilling a culture that took away any fear of failure. A few games before that victory in Scarborough, he sat the team down and pointed out how close Yorkshire had come several times without getting over the line. He asked everyone to look at the person to their left and right.

Alongside Kirby were Craig White and Ryan Sidebottom.

“Wayne said, what have you actually got with those two at the minute? I’m thinking, well I’ve got nothing really with them apart from a few beers and a couple of games of cricket, but great lads. He said, ‘now listen, when you’re 50, 60 in a bar at the other side of the world and you want to have something, you can either in four games’ time have something to have a drink about, or you won’t. Now, don’t play for yourself anymore, don’t worry about yourselves, play for that bugger next to you’. It was one of the most powerful things I’ve ever heard. It made a huge difference. It changed the way I played cricket.”

Kirby, now assistant and bowling coach at Derbyshire, says Clark’s shaped his whole coaching philosophy. “It’s all about the relationships he built with his players. You would without doubt run through a brick wall for the bloke. He was just an amazing man. And that is one of the major reasons why Yorkshire won it that year.”

Aside from Lehmann, Byas believes other members of the team contributed more in 2001 than they had previously. Matthew Wood’s form had been uneven since his breakthrough in 1998, but the 24-year-old opener scored consistently. He often batted on difficult pitches at Headingley in 2001 and perhaps did not receive the accolades he deserved.

“He was one of the gutsiest blokes I’ve ever played with,” recalls Kirby. “He got hit at Scarborough against Simon Jones and it went through the helmet, hit him on the corner of the eye. I came in as nightwatchman straight after and there was claret all over the place. Next day, bearing in mind he’d had stitches, the first ball bounced him and he hit it out of Scarborough.”

White’s runs too were vital. Having played for England as an allrounder he picked up an injury mid-season which prevented him from bowling. He returned to Yorkshire to play as a specialist batsman.

“Woody brought energy and a level of expertise at the top that we needed,” says Byas. “He and Craig formed a terrific opening partnership. They scored heavily and quickly.

“I never forget a game at Old Trafford: we lost one day, completely washed out. Those two scored the volume of runs that they would have scored in a day-and-a-half in two sessions.”

^{Darren Lehmann was key to Yorkshire's success}

Lehmann, Byas, the emerging Anthony McGrath, keeper Richard Blakey and allrounder Gary Fellows completed a daunting Yorkshire batting line-up.

Yorkshire’s seam bowling stocks though were hampered by international call-ups and injuries.

Enter Kirby. Aged 24, he had been released by Leicestershire with a history of back injuries and without making a first-class debut. It was, he thought, the end of the world. By the start of 2001, he was working for an interior flooring contractor, and playing club cricket.

He approached Yorkshire academy director Steve Oldham and was selected for a handful of 2nd XI games, burning up all his paid holiday. Oldham called on him again in early June, this time to make an emergency Championship debut after Hoggard was called away by England midway through Yorkshire’s game against Kent at Leeds. It was his big break, but Kirby had a moment of panic.

“I’d got a really understanding boss. He allowed me to go and trial. I’d already played for Yorkshire 2nds, done pretty well. Then I literally had no holiday left and Steve rang me at work. I was waiting for a big order. Alright then Kirbs, we need you to play again tomorrow.

“I must have sounded really ungrateful, I said, Esso, I’m really sorry mate, but there’s no way I’ll even get any time off work. Oh, he said, well that’s a bit of a shame because it’s the first team, so we’ll have to ask someone else. I almost dropped the phone.”

Kirby’s request for a day off was turned down by his boss who said he had to choose between his job or cricket.

“I said, yeah, but it’s the first team, they want me to play for the first team! He was a bit taken aback, because he loves his cricket as well. And he said, ‘Well if it’s the first team, I’ll have to drive you up there then!”

Kirby duly made his debut and in a devastating spell returned figures of 7 for 50. It was an emotional game for a man who thought he would never get another chance.

“I wasn’t going to let that opportunity slip by and I really went for it. But the one thing I’ll never forget, people talk about team-mates and what it’s like to be part of a strong team. Just bearing in mind they were all my bloody heroes before I walked in that dressing room, if I could have curled up in a ball and gone into the floor I would have.

“I just tried to sit in the corner of the dressing room and every single person came up to me and went, ‘Kirbs, we’ve heard a lot about you, and we wish you all the best.’ Every single player shook my hand and made me feel so welcome, no egos at all. It’s the best team environment I’ve ever been involved in.”

He quickly proved that his debut performance was no flash in the pan, bagging six wickets in both innings to demolish Leicestershire at Headingley. He admits to having a huge point to prove against his old county, but notes that people didn’t give Silverwood enough credit in that game. “He ran down the hill and bowled one of the fastest spells I have seen live, so the fact that I took a few wickets at the other end is backed up by the fact that they were frightened to death of Silvers!”

Yorkshire’s victory over Lancashire was notable for some cheeky Kirby banter towards Michael Atherton, who he dismissed cheaply in both innings. “Oh God, this has gone down in folklore and one of the most embarrassing moments I think I’ve had on a field.

“Let’s be honest here, Michael Atherton is a legend of English cricket and all of a sudden you’ve got this crazy redhead running in from the other end. He’d never heard of me before. I made him laugh because I was just trying to get him out of his bubble. It sounded disrespectful, but I said I’d seen better batters in a chippie in a very joking manner! I don’t think he took it that way though!”

Byas recalls Kirby’s devastating impact, when so many of the other seamers were injured – “the only one left standing”. He ended the year with 47 wickets at 20.85.

“He bowled at Headingley with ferocious pace against Kent and Leicestershire. He was incredible, an absolute legend in a short space of time. Just his natural length was devastating. He was a revelation, a breath of fresh air.”

Kirby modestly points out that it was not difficult to take wickets as part of an attack that always wanted to work together and were close friends. Added to that was a fierce competition for places because there was always someone waiting in the wings to come back from injury or England duty. Yorkshire were blessed in the spin department too with a young Richard Dawson enjoying a breakthrough year, taking 30 wickets in the second half of the season, and earning himself a Test debut that winter.

Managing the squad with so many international call-ups continued to be a challenge, although by this stage, Yorkshire were used to having to cope without Gough, Hoggard, White and Michael Vaughan for long periods. Byas admits that they sometimes struggled to adapt to their international players coming back.

^{Steve Kirby had been released by Leicestershire before re-emerging to star for Yorkshire}

Like a recent captain of England, Alastair Cook, Byas was able to get away from the pressures of leadership by going back to the farm. It offered a welcome reality check.
“It is only a game and it will always only ever be a game. But as players we get hung up on it. If your form wasn’t there and you weren’t getting runs, it was tough.

“You’re away from home, where’s my next run going to come from and so on. So, the thing that the farming brought to me was reality. This is work, now is cricket work? Yes, it is hard and challenging at times, but it isn’t the real world. I was fortunate that I was able to have that as a bit of an escape.”

With Clark’s mantra of focusing on one session at a time, it didn’t become readily apparent until midway through the game against Glamorgan at Scarborough that Yorkshire could clinch the title with two games to spare.

Dawson took six wickets to bowl Glamorgan out for 223 before 183 from White and hundreds from Wood and Byas enabled Yorkshire to declare on 580 for 9. Glamorgan No.11 Simon Jones had some fun on the final morning though as rain clouds approached, causing some nervous moments – and a few heckles from the Yorkshire faithful. Jones smashed 46 off 14 balls before a grateful, delirious Byas held onto a steepler.

“The timing was unbelievable,” recalls Kirby. “We had to take those wickets quite quickly. It was one of those surreal moments where you just knew it was going to happen. But you knew the rain was coming in. And you really wanted it to happen then, rather than it going into the last game. Then Simon started whacking it around and tried to lap-slog a ball into next week. It went straight up and honestly it took an age to come down.

“When he eventually caught it, we all just ran around like idiots. Craig tried to jump all over me and he spiked me straight down my shin. I had a mark for about three weeks. And somebody bit me in the back of the head, so I only remember pain really when the last catch went up! But what a day, what a celebration!”

Vaughan told team-mates to savour the moment as it would go by in the blink of an eye. His advice: take a deep breath, take it all in, sign every autograph, shake everybody’s hand and try and remember it. Celebrate each other’s success because such moments don’t come around often.

The players stayed in the changing room for several hours. Says Byas: “It was just the group of lads that got us there. About four or five of us spoke about what it meant. I went round every single player to talk about what they had contributed. It was a culmination of six years together.”

Finally, the Championship, the holy grail for Yorkshire, was in the club’s hands. Despite that, Yorkshire parted ways with Byas at the end of the year.  It was hard to accept, but Byas admits it would have been harder to leave without having finally won the Championship.

Yorkshire finally won one-day silverware the following year. Blakey led the county to victory over Somerset at Lord’s after new skipper Lehmann returned to Australia. The club’s fortunes in the Championship declined though. They finished bottom of Division One and were relegated amid debts and controversy behind the scenes.

Ultimately, it was Byas who reversed the club’s fortunes again. He played a season for Lancashire before going back to his farming roots. Colin Graves tempted him back to Headingley as director of cricket, and he oversaw Yorkshire’s return to Division One in 2006. “There were things that we’d worked so hard to get right that had gone wrong. We had to get out of the second division, simple as that. We did that the first year. Then we were progressing and trying to play a decent brand of cricket.”

It would not be until 2014, with another Australian, Jason Gillespie playing a key role, that Yorkshire won it again.

The memories and the camaraderie of 2001 remain strong among that group, many of whom are now in high-profile coaching jobs in international and county cricket.

“The best bunch of lads I’ve been involved with,” says Kirby. “It was true what Wayne said. No matter where you are, even now, at the other side of the world, whatever job they’re in, you do have something special.”

This article was published in the December 2019 edition of The Cricketer - the home of the best cricket analysis and commentary, covering the international, county, women's and amateur game

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