Hampshire v Yorkshire CCC: Ottis Gibson and White Rose must change gears to keep County Championship title push alive

In Yorkshire’s case, it comes as we speak.

Last night, the team were in action against Warwickshire at Edgbaston in the T20 Blast.

Tomorrow, they begin a four-day County Championship game against Hampshire in Southampton.

On Friday, Yorkshire travel to Chester-le-Street for a T20 game against Durham and, less than 24 hours later, play another T20 against Derbyshire in Chesterfield.

According to my trusty AA route planner (other route planners are available), the journey from Headingley to Edgbaston, then straight on to Southampton and home again, followed by the trips to and from Chester-le-Street and Chesterfield, comes to 800 miles, give or take.

Considering that petrol prices have gone through the roof, and that hotel stays are not exactly cheap, it is hardly good news for spectators either.

From a cricketing perspective, this Championship match comes amid a run of 14 games in the T20 Blast, an incongruous fixture shoved into the slog-fest.

Of course, the fixture planners had nowhere else to put this round of Championship matches, hence it is the equivalent of breaking off from a month of five-a-side football to play a game of 90 minutes. Ottis Gibson, the Yorkshire head coach, is the man tasked with juggling the different demands.

The former West Indies fast bowler has made no secret of his distaste for a schedule that saw his side play their first six Championship games in as many weeks, increasing the risk of injury to bowlers, and the present situation is not much better.

“The scheduling is not ideal,” he said.

“After staying over in Birmingham (on Friday night), we go straight to Southampton and try and get in some sort of practice, but we still have to try and give some of the guys who have been playing a bit of a break, and so on, to try to get themselves ready for Sunday.

“It’s a difficult balance, and if the game goes to the last over (in Hampshire), we might get back at 2am on the 16th (Thursday) and then we play on the 17th (at Durham). It’s certainly something that needs to be looked at.”

Yorkshire head to Southampton on the back of an unbeaten start in the four-day competition.

They are third in Division One having won their opening match at Gloucestershire and then achieved successive draws against Northamptonshire (A), Kent (H), Essex (A), Lancashire (H) and Warwickshire (H).

Gibson’s men are 15 points behind leaders Surrey, who have won three and lost three, and 12 points behind this week’s second-placed opponents, who go into the game with a record of four victories to go with a draw and a defeat.

That only 12 points separates a side who have won four games and a Yorkshire team who have won one also highlights another of the tournament’s pitfalls – a points system that overly rewards the draw.

“I’ve been happy with our performances up to now and we’ve done a lot of good things,” said Gibson.

“In the Championship, if we had taken our catches, we’d be a lot better off than we currently are.

“We’re sitting third in the table and we’ve only had the one win, and that also shows how strong we’ve actually been playing throughout.

“We’ve been close to more wins without being able to get across the line, and that’s been the difference and something we can hopefully be better at.”

Despite the focus on T20 of late, Championship specialists such as Steve Patterson, the Yorkshire captain, have been getting in some overs after a well-earned break to freshen their legs.

After this week, Yorkshire’s next Championship fixture is not until they host Surrey at Scarborough on July 11; that game starts after T20 quarter-final week and is scheduled to finish two days before T20 Finals Day.

“We’ve been working with the red-ball guys in the last week, so Patto, for example, and George Hill... those guys have been getting some practice,” said Gibson.

“Hopefully we can hit the ground running and put in a good performance in Southampton.”