Graves is expecting new-look Yorkshire to flourish

The Yorkshire chairman branded the players’ performances “a disgrace” and said they had badly let down the club and the members.

Now, just two months on from those tough-talking words, Graves is filled by a flood of optimism.

With a remodelled coaching staff and a new overseas signing, he believes Yorkshire can hit back at the first attempt.

“After what we’ve done with the coaching structure and the players we’ve got, I’d be very disappointed if we didn’t get back into Division One,” said Graves.

“Provided we don’t get too many England call-ups, there’s no reason why we can’t win promotion in my view.

“That’s my worry – that we could lose the likes of Jonny Bairstow and one or two others to England a little too often.

“But, if we don’t, I think we could be in a very strong position.”

Speaking at Headingley yesterday, where Yorkshire confirmed Australian batsman Phil Jaques as their overseas player for the next two years and former Australia fast bowler Jason Gillespie as their new first-team coach, Graves was in much happier mood than he was in September.

Back then, his public criticism of the Yorkshire players was honest and heartfelt. Graves’s comments carried powerful resonance, but he does not regret them for one minute.

On the contrary, he said the players had taken his censure on the chin.

“All I tried to do was put across what a lot of people were thinking and saying to me and, to be fair, the players have taken it on board,” he added.

“They said, ‘Yes, we’ve let you down, we’ve let ourselves down and we’ve let the members down’.

“They’ve put their hands up and said that the club shouldn’t be in this position.

“They knew exactly where I was coming from.

“At the end of the day, the players know they’ve got to put things right – and I firmly believe they can put them right.

“We’ve got some very good players and I think we have a lot to look forward to in the next few years.

“Having said that, the players also know that, if they don’t perform, things will change.

“They know that, when it comes to the end of their contracts, they will have to justify being awarded new ones.”

No self-respecting devil’s advocate could fail to point out that it is certain coaches – rather than certain players – who appear to have paid the heaviest price after relegation.

Although former first-team coach Craig White left the club in an attempt to become an international umpire, bowling coach Steve Oldham, batting coach Kevin Sharp and second-team coach John Blain wanted to stay but were deemed surplus to requirements.

However, Graves has always made clear the decision to remodel the coaching staff is not a consequence of relegation – merely something Yorkshire had been looking to do since early last year.

He also stressed you cannot just go around sacking players.

“At the end of the day, you have to honour players’ contracts,” he insisted.

“And, after a season like we had, it’s the easiest thing in the world to say ‘sack the players or sack the manager.’

“But I don’t believe in that.

“Martyn Moxon (Yorkshire’s director of professional cricket) has got a hell of a lot of capabilities and is widely respected throughout the game; if you look at his history and track record, it’s as good as anybody in the UK.

“At the same time, we needed some sort of shake-up and the way that everything’s worked out is for the best in my view. A clearer coaching structure will certainly help Martyn no end and enable his own skills to develop and come to the fore.”

Last year, eight people reported directly to Moxon – Messrs White, Sharp, Oldham, Blain and director of cricket operations Ian Dews, plus physiotherapist Scot McAllister, strength and conditioning coach Tom Summers and club administrator Janet Bairstow.

Graves believes too much responsibility was being placed on Moxon and said he hoped the likes of Gillespie would help take some of the burden off his shoulders.

“With the previous coaching system, we had a flat structure where everybody was reporting into Martyn,” he added.

“It meant Martyn was tearing himself apart trying to deal with the various areas.

“The one thing I want Martyn to do is to stand back more rather than be on the coal face on a daily basis, which is where he felt he had to be.

“I’m not going to knock anyone in particular, but we needed people to take some of the responsibility off Martyn and it never happened.

“But I am very excited about where we are now.

“I think we’ve got a lot to look forward to on and off the field.

“We’ve got some very good players, a fantastic coach in Martyn and a new coaching structure that’s a breath of fresh air.

“We’ve got a Test match next year, which is always good news financially, and the days of staff redundancies are behind us.

“The members have stuck with us through thick and thin and we hope to give them something to cheer about.”

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