Anthony McGrath happy to have Yorkshire CCC selection headache after record win

Ordinarily it would be a case of “same eleven - and more of the same please” after Yorkshire’s 504-run win against Worcestershire at Headingley, the biggest in the 135-year history of the County Championship.

But the arrival of overseas player Ben Sears, the New Zealand fast bowler, means that there is due to be one change to a winning side at least, with all-rounder Matty Revis also set to be named in the squad following his recovery from a back stress fracture.

Revis played in the second XI victory at Warwickshire last week, scoring 43 in the second innings of a match in which three centurions pressed their claims too.

Will Bennison, the promising 18-year-old, struck an unbeaten 203 in the second innings and Jonny Tattersall 122, while Harry Duke made an undefeated 128 in the first innings of a contest in which Yorkshire knocked off 400 to win by seven wickets.

It all amounts to a pleasant headache for the coach, one that will increase when Yorkshire entertain Warwickshire in their subsequent Championship match from May 2, when Joe Root and Harry Brook are available for one game only before the international summer, and when Australian pace bowler Jordan Buckingham starts the first of a four-match stint.

“It’s what we spoke about at the start of the year,” said McGrath, whose side hit back superbly from their opening round defeat at Hampshire.

“If we’re genuinely serious about winning things, we need people pushing. We need people to be disappointed who aren’t playing, and to keep giving us headaches.

“I’d much rather have that and leave people out who are doing well than trying to scrape an eleven together. It’s disappointing for the guys who are not playing, but I believe there’s going to be enough cricket for everyone throughout, so it’s really good signs and really exciting.”

Sears, 27, arrived in Leeds at the weekend and warmed up with his new team-mates during the Worcestershire game.

He was initially due to play in that match but had a heel injection after helping New Zealand to a 3-0 whitewash in their home one-day international series with Pakistan, when a five-wicket haul in each of his two appearances saw him named player of the series.

“Ben is fit to play at Durham,” said McGrath. “He’ll have a good bowl before then as well.

“Matt Revis is hopefully going to be close for that game, having coming through the second team game, so it will be good to add them both to the squad. It gives us another point of difference because Ben’s got genuine pace and obviously we know about ‘Rev’s’ credentials.”

Selection challenges are a welcome puzzle although the schedule helps in some respects.

The absurdity of cramming half of the Championship season into the first eight weeks ensures a natural rotation of bowling reserves, with McGrath keen to protect Yorkshire’s.

“There’s going to be disappointed guys but we’re going to have to rotate, particularly the bowlers,” he said.

“We’ve seen in the early rounds of the Championship Somerset doing a lot of overs, and it’s affected them this week.

“That was one of the reasons we didn’t enforce the follow-on (against Worcestershire), particularly having been a bowler down last week (when Ben Cliff got injured).

“Particularly in this first phase of the year, with the seven games, you do get compound interest in the bowlers so we’ve got to look after them, especially given the history of some of our guys’ injuries, and we want to keep a fresh and firing squad throughout the year.”

Yorkshire’s decision not to enforce the follow-on against Worcestershire was a topic of discussion among their supporters, after the side gained a first innings lead of 294.

Ditto the tactic to bat on to set a fanciful target of 610 - all of 74 runs more than has ever been chased in the game’s history.

“It can be a bit of a contentious one, that, when it comes to the follow-on, but I think given how it ended up it was a good decision,” added McGrath.

“We lost Ben Cliff last week and the other three seamers bowled a lot, and we just thought there was so much time in the game, particularly with the way that we can score quickly.

“On another occasion it might have been a follow-on situation, but we just felt that where the bowlers are at we’d take a safer option.

“I think the idea going forward when we can on flat pitches is to have five seamers, but that was the thinking on this particular occasion.”