Farewell to Jonny Tattersall, a model professional and credit to Yorkshire CCC - Chris Waters
IF any cricketer can count himself unlucky it is Jonny Tattersall.
Last year, Tattersall led Yorkshire to County Championship promotion, standing in as captain for Shan Masood.
Now he is to leave the club at the end of the season, saying that “new opportunities have arisen for me which I cannot turn down”.
Tattersall, 30, will stay at Yorkshire for the rest of the campaign, with Leicestershire rumoured to be his destination. He could have a good five or six years left in him and has much to offer with bat and gloves.
At Yorkshire, though, he has barely had a look-in this summer at first-team level, making only two appearances - against Essex at Chelmsford, and against Surrey at the Oval, both in the Championship.
After describing last year as “my favourite season”, and predicting that 2025 could be “my most enjoyable again”, the reality has proved unhappily different.
Jonny Bairstow was favoured for the job of red-ball captain when it became clear that Masood would not be returning, with Harry Duke preferred as second-choice wicketkeeper. Tattersall has spent much of his time in the second team.
Every coach, of course, has their own opinion, and selection decisions are never straightforward.
A personal view is that Tattersall has indeed been unfortunate.
Not only did he help the club over the line last year, but he also galvanised the side after they had gone winless in the first half of the campaign, something that should not be underestimated.
He also contributed with the bat, scoring centuries in the victories over Derbyshire at Chesterfield and against Leicestershire at Grace Road. He was reliable and effective behind the stumps.
However, there is no room for sentiment in professional sport, and a man who was in his second spell at Yorkshire - having been released in 2015 before returning two years later and turning himself into a wicketkeeper on the advice of the then coaching staff - is on his way to pastures new.
Tattersall has been nothing less than a model professional and a credit to the club.
He will be sorely missed.