Darren Gough - Yorkshire CCC one-day flops in danger of driving away young audience

FOR me, Yorkshire have prioritised their four-day cricket for so long that our one-day cricket seems to have gone to pot.
Big loss: Yorkshire's Josh Poysden.Big loss: Yorkshire's Josh Poysden.
Big loss: Yorkshire's Josh Poysden.

It looks like everything we try and do does not work. We swap captains and the problem for me at Yorkshire is that the captain has a lot of the say and the coach is there to support the captain and advise. When you have not got a settled captain in all forms making decisions, it’s difficult.

Here is an example. I watched Yorkshire play Derbyshire the other day in the T20 Blast and we played three spinners – and we won the toss and bowled first. What is the point of that?

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If you’re going to play three spinners and bowl first, surely you play an extra batter instead?

Admittedly, Josh Poysden was signed primarily as a one-day bowler and he was unlucky and a big loss after suffering a fractured skull in the nets -–you would not wish that upon anyone. Obviously Adil Rashid is not available for the T20,too.

When I look at our top three, Adam Lyth, Tom Kohler-Cadmore and David Willey have got off to decent starts in most T20 games. But from overs seven to 14, the middle order are struggling.

Nicholas Pooran was a massive loss; he was a fantastic player. But we have not got enough from Jonny Tattersall, Jack Leaning and Tim Bresnan.

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For me, the one reason why we did not seem to prioritise one-day cricket is that most other clubs who really want to do well have two designated overseas players. Yorkshire have one and were relying on our Kolpak signing, Duanne Oliver, being that second one, but he has not really delivered in one-day form. It has snookered us a little bit.

Two or three years into a plan of getting our one-day cricket to where it should be and competing with everyone else, we don’t know our best team.

We are still trying to work it out; there are changes in selection too many times. There must be consistency in selection.

I think Andrew Gale, as the coach, is trying to do everything he possibly can to give the players confidence. He is giving them the freedom to express themselves and you can see that by the way they are setting up and trying to play at the top of the order. They have a licence. He is trying to do the right things.

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But with Pooran gone and the middle order struggling, we have struggled to get into any rhythm and once you get a bad start and have unsettled weather, it’s hard.

Something has to change. If I was the coach, I would be taking responsibility off the captain and making decisions that are best for the team. But, unfortunately, the captain has the say.

Yorkshire have always prioritised the longer form and it is frustrating. I think we have got a younger audience as well as the members who come and watch.

It is the great that the members still go and watch, but there is a younger audience in cricket and one-day cricket has to get into the hearts of youngsters and we are letting the supporters down.

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Another option would be to give someone the coach’s job in one-day cricket and let someone do the job in the longer form and separate it if it is causing confusion in the way we play.

The Ashes makes a welcome return to Headingley next week and I am there all week and looking forward to it.

The build-up will be important and if we can keep the covers off the pitch and get some sunshine on it, you can score quickly. But my worry is that when there is rain about and it is overcast, it swings and seams all over the shop.

That is not the fault of the groundsman, it is just the way that the ground is built and it will swing with the stands there now.

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I just hope we do not get a game which is over in two-and-a-half days or something. We need the weather to improve.

Onto The Hundred and I am so disappointed at the total lack of home-grown coaches. It seems like every single franchise will go for an overseas coach.

I am absolutely gobsmacked that they do not think there are any talented people here.

The ECB said they wanted people involved who have been lost to cricket due to TV, radio and other commitments and have just gone for the same old names from overseas franchises. I am hugely disappointed.

Can you imagine Australia sidelining their national coaches and putting English coaches and Indian coaches in charge? It just wouldn’t happen. It would not happen in any other league in the world.