Wharton breaks through at Headingley to start the Yorkshire party

James Wharton top-scored for Yorkshire in their final Vitality County Championship match against
Northamptonshire at Headingley. With his side’s promotion to Division One confirmed on
Saturday, Wharton entered the final day of the season with his maiden double-century in view,
before reaching an eventual score of 285. 

Having bowled Northamptonshire out for 147 on Friday, Yorkshire needed to reach 350 in their first
innings to gain promotion back to Division One, and made their target on Saturday evening for the
price of only two wickets. Wharton was stationed on 167* overnight, and felt the pressure lifted
after he had made his maiden Headingley century on Day 3. “It was an amazing feeling, to be honest”, said Wharton. “Looking at this fixture, it was my last chance to get a hundred at Headingley this year, and it’s one of those things that you don’t want to let carry on for a number of games.’

“It [scoring his first home century] was something I was really happy to do. I got a bit nervous in the
90s, but luckily I wasn’t there for too long! And then I just really enjoyed it. The people I was batting
with: Luxy, Lythy obviously put on a masterclass, and then Bluey [Jonny Bairstow] at the end. It was
surreal, really.”Bairstow had replaced Will Luxton at the crease after the latter was clean bowled within the first half-hour. Quickly, Bairstow and Wharton began to strike boundaries at will, with Wharton reaching
his maiden double-century at the start of the 98th over of the Yorkshire innings. 

An impressive four through deep point sealed the feat, before he made another 85 runs. He was
caught at long-on when nearing 300, but the 23-year-old had made his mark on the match. 
With promotion already confirmed, Yorkshire did not need to win the match, and the side batted
freely until tea. The result was the highest ever Yorkshire score at Headingley, with a final total of
729-7d, and the highest County Championship total of the season. . 

Outgoing head coach Ottis Gibson attributed the promotion to his coaching staff’s work on
improving the atmosphere of the club, after a wretched period for Yorkshire. After suffering
relegation in 2022 and handling the Azeem Rafiq scandal, the promotion is a much-needed boost. 
“It’s been a three year process of trying to instil the right sort of values in the group”, noted Gibson.
“Part of it is my personality, which is a bit laid-back –  [saying to the players] ‘don’t put too much
pressure on yourself’, ‘go out there and enjoy yourself’ – that sort of stuff. We’ve been able to do
that – guys are playing with smiles on their faces.’

“And ‘don’t take failure too seriously’ – there are going to be times when you don’t score runs, you
don’t make runs but it’s not the end of the world. We worked really hard in practice, on our
processes and our preparation.” 
Wharton reached 250 just 17 balls after his 200, making a 100 partnership with Bairstow from just
58 balls. He was imperious at the crease, continuing a breakneck run-rate after a lunch that was
elongated by bad light. However, he would fall to Northamptonshire debutant Fateh Singh on 285.

He had hit numerous straight sixes, but slightly mistimed one and was caught by Justin Broad at
long-on. After his innings, Wharton agreed with Gibson’s analysis of the club’s positive ethos. 
“We were talking about it last night; even if we have a bad session, the difference between the first
half of the season and the second half is that if we had a bad session in the first half, it was like all
was lost and there was no coming back.’ “If we have a bad session now, we forget about it, and we know t hat we can put it right by having agood session and we can win games. That’s through enjoying each other’s success and being happy and enjoying what we do, because it’s amazing really.”

The Yorkshire native was applauded off by the Northamptonshire fielders, having scored the fifth-
highest individual score at Headingley, behind Don Bradman, John Edrich and Darren Lehmann.  
Sunday also involved a farewell for Matthew Fisher, who has confirmed his Headingley exit and is
expected to join Surrey next season. Fisher and captain Jonny Tattersall emerged arm-in-arm from
the dressing room in preparation for Fisher’s final overs as a Yorkshire player,with Northants
preparing to bat away the final hour of play. 

Northants’ brief foray to the crease was a victory lap for Yorkshire, with Fisher taking two wickets
and the visitors finishing on 71-2. Ultimately, the day was one of celebration for Wharton and
Yorkshire. “I never would have thought, coming into this game that I’d end up on a score like that”, added
Wharton. “It just tops off a great week for the team.”

Words by Martin Lloyd