Cricket: Jaunty Jarvis
Yorkshire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207-5 dec
Leicestershire . . . . . . . . . . . . .132-6
Match drawn
PAUL JARVIS, playing in only his third Championship match of the season, wrecked Leicestershire yesterday with four wickets for seven runs in two spells at sunny Abbeydale.
Jarvis, 27, easing back to fitness off 12 paces, was quick, straight and hostile on a far from flat surface. He last took a wicket on 27 April and has since been under treatment for a succession of leg strains. He, with Mike Gatting and the other South African tourists, may be cleared to represent England again from next summer at tomorrow's ICC meeting and, if he can sustain this level of performance, Jarvis could soon be a contender.
Leicestershire were set to score 208 in 47 overs of what became a one-day match and although Jarvis sent them into the last 20 overs at 68 for 6 Yorkshire's other bowlers could not finish the job, Vince Wells and Paul Nixon ensuring the draw, no points for either team.
Martyn Moxon's bad luck with the toss continued, losing for the eighth time in the last 10, his consolation being that he could decide the timing of the declaration, but with only 102 overs available even that scope was limited. Sunday's defeat here, on a pitch that would have been reported had it been a first-class match, seemed to weigh on Yorkshire minds.
Nigel Briers first tried to bowl Yorkshire out (88 for 4) and then to tempt them into an earlier declaration until Craig White took charge. White, currently averaging 69, took advantage of the bowling of Laurie Potter and James Whitaker by rattling 74 not out off 66 balls (eight fours, sixes being a long carry here). Yorkshire's Australian struggled last season but this year he has been the club's most successful batsman so far; this was his fourth successive half-century and he must be pushing for a place higher than No 6.
David Graveney, the Durham captain, will be out for several weeks because of a suspected torn knee cartilage that is expected to require surgery.
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