Anthony McGrath's honesty bodes well as Yorkshire look to justify optimism

The Yorkshire head coach had not been a happy Easter bunny when his team drew their opening match at Glamorgan over the Easter weekend, and he was considerably less chuffed when they followed that with a 214-run defeat against Hampshire at Headingley.

McGrath’s words – delivered in a measured as opposed to emotional manner – were refreshing in these days of anodyne remarks by managers and coaches who could no doubt find the positives in a motorway pile-up.

They were also of the straight-talking sort that will be needed internally if Yorkshire are to justify the optimism surrounding them going into the season, with the club hopeful of winning their first silverware since 2015.

As McGrath put it: “That we’ve not been getting it right has been frustrating from the point of view of the optimism of pre-season and how we finished last year. For whatever reason, the work we’ve put in has not been transferred on to the pitch.

“In the first game I guess you could say that there were mitigating circumstances in that it was the first game, but in the eight days of cricket that we’ve had so far we’ve been poor. The lads know that and we’ve just got to make sure we get things right in the next game.”

McGrath hopes that a week off will have benefited his side, with Yorkshire fixture-less in the last round as, indeed, were Sussex, their opponents at Headingley from Friday.

Sussex are the only club in either division who still retain a 100 per cent record, having won two from two and thus gone some way towards mitigating the imposition of a 12-point penalty heading into the campaign for financial mismanagement.

This already has the look of an important game for Yorkshire with three more tough ones to come before the break for the Vitality Blast. Next week they travel to Somerset, the early leaders, and then visit second-placed Warwickshire before a home match against Surrey, the best side in the country in recent years.

The return of Joe Root is an obvious boost – this the first of three Championship games for him before the Test summer. The presence of Root in any team usually equates to another four-letter word starting with “r” – runs. He has certainly not disappointed when he has played for Yorkshire in recent times, scoring two hundreds and two fifties in his last four Championship games going back over two years.

Also back after a thumb injury kept him out of the Hampshire clash is Jonny Bairstow, the Yorkshire captain. The prospect of the Root-Bairstow alliance joining forces again is a tantalising one that could help to put extra bums on seats.

Two players who have had their bums on different sorts of seats lately are pace bowlers Jhye Richardson and Jack White. Both had to be substituted out of the Hampshire game due to food poisoning but are happily recovered and available for selection.

A key member of the seam attack, Ben Coad, misses out due to an unspecified injury picked up in training. “The club are monitoring this closely and will provide a further update in due course,” a statement read.

Yorkshire’s 14-man squad includes Dan Moriarty, the left-arm spinner, who took a five-wicket haul for the second XI against Derbyshire at Scarborough last week, while Sussex’s features two former Yorkshire players in captain and pace bowler Ollie Robinson, plus batsman Jack Leaning.

Yorkshire (from): Bairstow (c), Bean, Bess, Cliff, Hill, Lyth, Moriarty, Revis, Richardson, Root, van Beek, Wharton, White, Whiteman.

Sussex (from): Carson, Clark, Coles, Crocombe, Haines, Hudson-Prentice, Hughes, Ibrahim, Lamb, Leaning, Price, Robinson (c), Simpson, Tear.