Home grown

FEW Yorkshire hearts will not be gladdened by the sight of Geoff Boycott, bat in hand once again, passing on his expertise to the county’s young cricketers. For the fact is that, as the former England stalwart made clear, Yorkshire County Cricket Club will have to rely on these youngsters for the foreseeable future.

Of course, the harsh financial reality is that Yorkshire has no choice. For past decisions mean that the club cannot hope to tempt overseas cricketers with lucrative contracts and, as a result, the club is forced to make a virtue out of a necessity.

But what a virtue to have. The club is justly renowned for its ability to develop talented cricketers and many older followers will recall that having a team of 11 Yorkshire-born players was seldom a hindrance to bringing the County Championship trophy back to Headingley on a regular basis.

Supporters may have to be patient but there is no reason why this cannot happen again, such is the depth of talent within Yorkshire’s borders – not to mention the calibre of the coaching team, as Mr Boycott would undoubtedly agree.