Luckless all-rounder Matthew Waite determined to repay Yorkshire CCC’s faith

How else to explain a list of injuries taller than a ladder itself or longer than a cat’s tail?

Waite, who turns 25 on Christmas Eve, has barely played for the Yorkshire first XI since making his debut in 2014.

Twenty-seven appearances in six years is scant reward for the talented all-rounder, who has been blighted, in particular, by problems with his left ankle exacerbated by landing on the joint in the act of bowling.

Waite’s latest injury – sustained on the eve of a season already curtailed by coronavirus – really took the proverbial biscuit.

Somehow (and neither he nor the physios know quite how) he contrived to tear a tendon away from a bone in his right armpit while practising ahead of the Bob Willis Trophy match against Durham at Chester-le-Street.

Having impressed in pre-season and been all-set, finally, for an extended run in the first team, especially with Tim Bresnan having left the club during mid-summer, Waite was replaced for the game in the north-east by fellow all-rounder Jordan Thompson, who took his chance so well that he ended up going on to be Yorkshire’s player of the season.

While Thompson flourished with bat and ball, Waite spent much of August and September stuck at home, the mental challenge of being sidelined again – particularly in this year of all years – no doubt harder than the physical one.

“It’s been tough, really tough, to be fair,” says Waite, who hopes to return to bowling in January.

“I’m quite a positive and outgoing person, but when this happened this year – after my setbacks of previous years – it just felt like, ‘Am I ever going to be fit?’

“It’s easy to get down about that and stuff, and it was hard when everyone was playing and I was just sat at home.

“I tried doing a lot of running – that seemed to help, because I didn’t have that much to do really.

“I wasn’t doing any rehab then, or anything like that, so I did a lot of running because that’s obviously good for you mentally and physically.

“It’s been a bit easier over the past couple of weeks, because obviously nobody’s playing at the moment and I’m in the same position as everybody else now.

“I can’t wait to get back playing because I’ve not been doing much these past few months.

“I’ll be allowed to bat when we get back for pre-season training (in November), then I’m going to start bowling again in January.”

The freakish nature of the injury only made things worse.

Yorkshire’s medical team had seen nothing like it; other consulted professionals were similarly perplexed.

“All the physios that have worked for years in the sport said that they had never seen this injury before,” says Waite.

“I think they’re actually doing a case study on me so that if it happens again to anybody else, then they’ve got something to look back on – that’s how rare it is.

“All I know is that I turned up for the Durham game, didn’t think my body was in a bad place, warmed up, threw, did all the banding (resistance) work and stuff and then was suddenly unable to bowl.

“I just couldn’t get it to the other end and I was like, ‘What’s up with this?’

“So I went to see Ku (Bansil), the physio, and got sent for a scan, which showed that I’d somehow torn a tendon away from the bone.

“We couldn’t pinpoint how it happened – it must have been bowling before (in pre-season), but I don’t really know – and I’m still doing rehab work now three-to-four times a week.

“It’s been a slow recovery, but thankfully it’s all going in the right direction and there’s no pain now.

“It’s frustrating because I’d had a great pre-season and felt as fit as I’d ever been.

“My left ankle felt good, I’d lost quite a lot of weight as well, and I was raring to go.

“Obviously, with Bresnan leaving, that opened a path for an all-rounder, and I was really looking forward to starting the season having had some good backing from the coaching staff.

“They thought that I was in a good place, I thought that I was in a good place, and then, unfortunately, the injury happened on the very day before the season began.”

That backing from such as first-team coach Andrew Gale and director of cricket Martyn Moxon has continued apace, with Yorkshire having awarded Waite a new two-year deal.

At a time when Yorkshire, along with all clubs, are cutting their cloth, it shows how highly they rate the Leeds-born player.

“It gives me a lot of confidence,” he says. “To get a two-year deal shows how much they back me.

“I feel like I owe them some performances now. I want to repay the faith that they’ve shown.”

With Thompson having played so well this year, and with Yorkshire having further strengthened in the all-round department by signing Dom Bess, there is certainly plenty of competition for places.

Bess is more of a bowler than a batsman, but Waite believes that there is no reason why he and Thompson cannot play in the same side.

“Tommo did really well – he took his chance and had a really good season, but I don’t see why there can’t be a place for both of us,” he says. “I don’t see why you can’t play more all-rounders if that’s what’s required.

“It’s not just me and Tommo. There’s also Matthew Fisher, Dave Willey, Dom Bess – we’ve got quite a lot of all-rounders now. We’ve had some really good ones over the years and it’s not been easy to get into the side.

“Obviously, Bresnan played for a lot of years and did really well, then we signed Dave (Willey), and we’ve also had the likes of Liam Plunkett plus Adil Rashid.

“Although I’ve had a few opportunities over the years, I haven’t really been able to kick-on through injuries and stuff, which is pretty unfortunate.”

As with Thompson, it is not immediately obvious whether Waite is a better batsman or bowler.

A powerful right-hander and a bustling seamer, he has looked good in both departments in his stop-start career.

In 2017, a magnificent innings of 71 from 58 balls in a Royal London Cup match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston was a tribute to Waite’s batting talent, while a maiden five-wicket haul at the start of last year (5-16) against the Leeds-Bradford students was similarly impressive.

As with so many of the all-rounders that Yorkshire possess now or have recently possessed, Waite seems to be one of those cricketers who stands up at pivotal times, his contribution often worth more than statistics alone.

Like most of us, Waite is just keen to see the back of 2020.

He deserves all the luck going in 2021.

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