Yorkshire CCC's Ami Campbell calls for 'big last effort' to seal Metro Cup semi-final spot
AMI CAMPBELL has praised her Yorkshire team-mates for the way the squad has bounced back from recent disappointments in both 50-over and T20 cricket.
The White Rose county beat Gloucestershire by 150 runs at Bristol last Saturday to keep themselves on course for the semi-finals of the Metro Bank One-Day Cup, a game in which left-hander Campbell scored an excellent 98 not out.
It ended a three-game losing streak, which started late last month with defeat to Middlesex in the Vitality Blast final at Northampton. Defeat followed against the same opponent in the One-Day Cup the following Saturday before a reverse against Glamorgan.
But victory over a Gloucestershire side also in contention for the semis got things back on track.
“It’s never nice to lose,” said left-handed bat Campbell ahead of Monday’s trip to Wantage Road to take on Northamptonshire Steelbacks. “We’re a very competitive team.
“But, with the stage we’re at as a group, you’ve got to learn from those losses.
“The season, up to that stage, had been a little bit breezy for us. And, actually, it was good to go away and say, ‘How are we going to compete in Tier 1?’
“We have to build partnerships, we have to rotate the strike. We’ve just gone back to that in training.
“It’s been hard, and we’ve spoken a few home truths.
“Everyone’s held themselves accountable and trained really, really hard. I’m proud of the girls for digging in.”
Monday brings Yorkshire’s penultimate group game, their eighth of nine fixtures.
They have won four and lost three to date and sit fourth in the table on 20 points. The top four teams secure a semi-final berth, and Yorkshire are level on points with fifth-placed Worcestershire, while ahead courtesy of a superior net run-rate.
There is no doubt Yorkshire hold the advantage.
Although they face a Northamptonshire side who are second having won six of their seven matches, they finish off facing second-bottom Kent at Canterbury on Saturday.
Worcestershire’s last two games are against third-placed Glamorgan, who have won six of their seven games, and unbeaten table-toppers Middlesex. They are already qualified for the September 6 semi-finals having won all seven games to date.
“It’s going to be one last big effort for us over the next few weeks,” said Campbell, who has been excellent in 50-over cricket this season, scoring 350 runs in six innings, posting two half-centuries and a career-best 165 not out to leave her second in the competition behind Northamptonshire’s Michaela Kirk.
“It’s never easy with the travelling as well. Saturday was a long journey to Bristol, and we have an even bigger one coming up to Kent next weekend. It’s not usually the cricket which takes it out of you, it’s the travelling.
“We have to make sure we’re looking after ourselves around that.”