Championship and 
Royal London Cup double is realistic target, says Moxon

The county’s director of cricket feels they have a great opportunity to finally end their silverware drought.

Yorkshire have gone 12 years without winning a league or a cup competition – the longest of the 18 first-class counties.

But they have had another good season under Moxon and first-team coach Jason Gillespie, and they go into the closing stages of the campaign top of the Championship and through to the Royal London Cup quarter-finals.

“Who knows what the future holds, but the way that we’re playing, we’ve got as good a chance of winning something as we’re likely to have over the next few years,” said Moxon.

“We’ve got an opportunity to win two competitions, and we’ll be doing everything we can to achieve that goal.

“I think it’s a realistic target, and it’s well within our capabilities if we play to our potential. There are no guarantees, but we’re determined to give it our very best shot.”

Moxon and Gillespie have built the nucleus of a side that can serve Yorkshire well for many years to come.

All that remains is for the club to finally win something, a goal to which they are tirelessly working.

With the unpredictability of England call-ups a perennial factor, and with Yorkshire producing more England players than you could shake a Yorkshire pudding at, there must be a chance that they could lose more to international cricket in the next few years.

Consequently, there would be no better time than now for Yorkshire to strike gold, with the club going into today’s County Championship game against Sussex at Scarborough five points clear with four games left, and with the prospect of a Lord’s final also in view.

“The lads are well aware of what we can potentially achieve,” said Moxon. “They don’t need to be told; they know it themselves.

“We got very close to winning the Championship last year, and we want to go one better this time.

“The Championship is something we all want to win, while a final at Lord’s would be the icing on the cake.”

Victory at Scarborough would see Yorkshire take a giant stride towards the title, which they last won in 2001.

They are strong favourites to beat Sussex, but the visitors are unlikely to be pushovers.

“I don’t think there are any easy fixtures at any stage of the season,” said Moxon.

“Every team is scrapping for points for one reason or another.

“Sussex will have gained confidence from recent performances in the Championship and have some good players. But we just need to concentrate on ourselves.”

This week’s game will mark Kane Williamson’s last home Championship appearance for Yorkshire.

Moxon has confirmed that the New Zealand batsman will, as expected, leave the club after the next Championship game against Lancashire in early September to take part in the Twenty20 Champions League.

Yorkshire, who have no plans to sign an overseas replacement for the last two Championship games, away to Nottinghamshire and at home to Somerset, hope to be boosted by the return of Liam Plunkett for the trip to Trent Bridge.

Plunkett was ruled out of the final two Tests against India with an ankle problem, but Moxon hopes he will be fit for the Championship match starting on September 9.

Moxon also confirmed that Yorkshire are in ongoing discussions with England surrounding the potential availability of Joe Root and Gary Ballance for later in the season.

Yorkshire’s Brooks eager to hit wickets target: Page 25.