Anthony McGrath challenges Yorkshire to make Essex standards the norm
ANTHONY MCGRATH said Yorkshire’s emphatic victory over Essex was “frustrating” on the one hand but more “exciting” on the other because it demonstrated what his side are capable of producing on a regular basis.
The head coach watched his side bounce back from last week’s one-wicket defeat against Surrey at The Oval with a dominant performance at Headingley, securing victory inside three days.
The win underlined Yorkshire’s potential, but also the inconsistency that has prevented them from mounting a challenge this season.
“In some ways it’s frustrating because it shows how good we can be, but I think it’s more exciting than anything,” McGrath said.
“If we can keep maintaining those standards on a regular basis, we’ve got such an exciting group and hopefully that’s just the start of it.”
Yorkshire’s narrow defeat by Surrey ended their hopes of a first Championship title since 2015. McGrath said his players had been challenged to maintain good standards for the rest of the summer and was delighted with the response that they showed against his former club.
“There were a lot of emotions down there (at The Oval) with everything because it pretty much finished the season in terms of what we wanted to achieve,” he added.
“We set everyone a bit of a goal this week of keeping what we think are our standards and that performance was magnificent. It was a top performance over two-and-a-half days.”
McGrath was pleased with Yorkshire’s first-innings total of 390 and paid tribute to another outstanding bowling display.
“When they bowl like that, there's just no respite,” he said. “I think this morning we bowled 28 overs, 74 dots, 48 runs, seven wickets against some top, top players.
“So, when you get the runs on the board, it's a different game. We know the template, we know where we're trying to get to, and when you see performances like that, it's a little bit frustrating but more exciting.”