Alex Lees leads Yorkshire’s response to Nottinghamshire with a century
|
Version 0 of 1. Alex Lees revelled in his role as Yorkshire’s young fogey to thwart one of the teams billed as most likely to challenge for their County Championship pennant this season. Just half-a-dozen days past his 22nd birthday, Lees struck his seventh first-class hundred on the ground where Yorkshire sealed the title in September. His composure at the crease belies his tender years and how Yorkshire have needed it at the start of this season. The surprise for a man who bats like a seasoned campaigner was the manner of his dismissal, a lazy cross-batted waft outside off stump that gifted Will Gidman a maiden Division One wicket for Nottinghamshire – the very next delivery after he brought up three figures from 223 balls. Eradicating such errors will no doubt come with experience. His first-wicket alliance with Adam Lyth during 2014 was the cornerstone of Yorkshire’s batting but England calls have left him as the senior pro at the top. “With Adam not there and the other guys missing in the West Indies someone needed to stand up, and although I am still relatively inexperienced I am trying to take on a bit of that pressure by being as consistent as possible,” Lees said. There was plenty of that when he and Will Rhodes – born in Nottingham, raised in Cottingham – strode to the middle after Nottinghamshire’s final three wickets, including that of the double-centurion Alex Hales, fell in the opening hour. They remained unbreached until after lunch when Nottinghamshire were rewarded for increased discipline by Rhodes flashing loosely at Harry Gurney. Cheteshwar Pujara scored his first runs for Yorkshire via a soft-handed glide to the third-man boundary off Gurney and proceeded to a serene half-century, only altering his tempo when on its threshold. However, the precise footwork that reaped consecutive boundaries off Samit Patel’s slow left-armers to get to 50 was not matched by his placement immediately afterwards when he picked out midwicket. Patel, who grassed difficult chances from Lees on 59 and 79, also put down a return catch from Andrew Gale, returning from the ECB ban that included him being denied the opportunity to lift the trophy here seven months ago. He resumes with Yorkshire still 53 runs shy of avoiding the follow-on built mainly on Hales’ career-best 236. “It was an innings out of the top drawer. The stats tell a lot – Trent Bridge under grey skies in April is not renowned as a batsman’s paradise,” said the Nottinghamshire captain, Chris Read. “He has a hunger for big scores, he is a year older and is maturing like all batsman do. When you see opportunities to play with the three lions on your chest you have to grab them. He sees there are opportunities for him out there and he wants to take them.” |