YORKSHIRE coach Jason Gillespie said he was proud of his side's ultimately fruitless attempt to force a victory on the final day of their LV= Division One game against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.
When the draw was agreed, the home side were 354-7 declared, with skipper Chris Read on 83 not out. At that stage their lead was 241 and a stalemate had been certain for some time.
“Nottinghamshire dug in on the last day but to come into this game this morning, when we were the only side who could realistically win it, was something I was very proud of after Notts had been 393-7 on the first day,” said Gillespie.
“A couple of young lads, Alex Lees and Jack Leaning, stepped up with good hundreds when we needed them and Will Rhodes adds so much to our side with bat and ball.
“It was a hard-fought game and Notts played some really good cricket. We had the better of things on days two and three but Notts clearly outperformed us on day one.”
At the end of the morning session Gale’s men still had hopes that they could pull off what would have been a fine victory after Steven Patterson and Rhodes had claimed the vital wickets of Will Gidman and James Taylor.
By tea, however, the game was heading for a draw after Read’s batsmen had displayed flinty defensive techniques in the afternoon session.
Samit Patel was caught by wicketkeeper Andrew Hodd off Rhodes for a 114-ball 76 and Riki Wessels was also taken by the keeper on 43 when trying to cut Leaning, but the home side came into the game’s final interval on 292-7, a lead of 279.
Rhodes ended the innings as the most successful bowler with figures of 2-42.
However there was a blow for Yorkshire officials on the fourth afternoon at Trent Bridge when England coach Peter Moores turned down their request to release Adil Rashid for the game against Warwickshire on Sunday. Director of Cricket Martyn Moxon said he was disappointed by the decision.
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