Anthony McGrath: There’s a “realistic chance” Yorkshire could sign an overseas batter

It comes as he looks to address their principal weakness – a failure to post consistently sizeable first-innings scores.

“There’s a realistic chance that we might add an overseas batter,” McGrath told The Yorkshire Post.

“Last season we were so light on seam bowlers, and again this year, losing Matt Milnes and Jordan Thompson, that we had to go down the overseas route with bowlers.

“I think now, with the bowling stocks we’ve got and the lads coming through, we’ll have an option to look at a batting overseas.

“You see the likes of ‘Cliffy’ (Ben Cliff) with the ball, we’ve got James Taylor coming in, and young lads like Brad Sylvester coming through… it just gives us that greater flexibility.”

Yorkshire could field an overseas batsman alongside an overseas bowler if they so desire, having made no secret of their wish to re-sign the Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav.

Counties can field two overseas players at any time, and Yadav made an excellent impression during his brief spell with the club.

“He wants to come back, and we’d love to have him back,” McGrath reiterated. “It just depends on the IPL and his Indian schedule.

“Like all our overseas, he was brilliant and really invested in the club. To have a world-class spinner like that is magical, so if he’s available for any length of time, we’re sure we’ll make it work.”

Like all spinners and indeed bowlers of all stripes, Yadav needs runs on the board to play with.

Yorkshire have mustered the seventh-lowest number of batting points in Division One – just 16 from 13 games, with the four teams above them having all gained more (Sussex 27, Somerset 25, Nottinghamshire 24 and Warwickshire 21).

“I think 16 batting points is not enough if you’re going to win the league,” McGrath admitted. “So the batting, in particular, is a big thing for us.

“I think early in the season we left a lot of runs out there, and it’s one area where we need to be more ruthless – particularly in the first innings to get more batting points.

“Generally, if you look at the numbers and the totals we’ve put on the board, we’ve been short.”

McGrath has resisted making wholesale changes to the batting department, showing faith in the players.

Only two of Yorkshire’s first-team regulars (all-rounders Dom Bess and George Hill) are averaging above 30 in this year’s Championship.

“I think it’s us as well not wanting to panic and give players an extra run because we believe in the batting we’ve got,” McGrath added.

“Sometimes you have to go through that and it's a choice of do you make wholesale changes to make a point and get the batsmen on the back foot? Or do you believe in the batters you've got and think, no, we're going to give them a little bit more time?

“So we've gone for the latter, because I think if you go through our list, I don't think there's anyone who you'd say, you know, you don't think is going to score first-class runs.

“But at some point, there has got to be that outcome in terms of run-scoring.

“Everyone’s aware of it, the batters are aware of it, and if I saw people not working or not trying to work out a way of getting more runs then that would be a concern, but I’m not seeing any of that, and I’m still confident in the group, but we need to start scoring.”

McGrath prefers to judge batting performances within the context of the games themselves – not simply in terms of overall aggregate.

When Yorkshire were bowled out for 152 and 171 at Edgbaston in May, for example, while Warwickshire made 553-6 declared in their second innings, there was a clear second-best aspect to Yorkshire’s performance.

The same was true when they made 185 and 229 at Leicester in June and the hosts scored 453 to win by an innings.

However, par scores have been lower in the current block of Championship fixtures after The Hundred, and Yorkshire have largely outscored their rivals during that time.

“When we do score more runs, logic says that it gives our bowlers more time off their feet as well,” McGrath said. “Because that's been the other problem.

“When you get bowled out in 40-odd overs, the bowlers are having to come back out pretty much straight away.

“In our second innings against Somerset (at Headingley last week), we managed to bat for over 100 overs.

“It gave our seamers complete rest, and you could see the difference in our intensity because it makes such a difference to the bowling unit.”