Lyth intending to leave it late to get back in runs for Yorkshire

Lyth was one of English cricket’s greatest success stories in 2010, playing a key role in Yorkshire’s audacious assault on the County Championship title.

The Whitby-born left-hander was the first man in the country to 1,000 first-class runs and was Yorkshire’s leading run-scorer in four-day cricket with 1,509 at 52.03.

The 23-year-old has found life harder this season – 405 runs in eight Championship games at 27.00 – but he showed encouraging signs during his second-innings 69 at Durham last week, his highest score of the season, which represented a solid comeback after he was dropped for the previous Championship match at Sussex.

Now Lyth wants to show his captain his improved performance was no flash in the pan.

“Galey said to me he wants me in the side and I was able to repay him with 60-odd at Durham, but I was disappointed not to go on and get a hundred for him and the boys,” said Lyth.

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be, but that innings has given me a lot of confidence to kick on through the Twenty20 campaign and, hopefully, do much better in the second half of the season.

“I think the Twenty20 campaign has come around at a good time for me. It has given me a bit of confidence in terms of striking the ball and I’ve just got to try to keep it going now.”

Lyth will get a further chance to enhance his claims in today’s Twenty20 game against Leicestershire at Grace Road (5.40pm).

Although he has struggled during the opening part of the summer, he said he has not felt out of touch.

“I can’t say I’ve ever felt out of form,” added Lyth, who has made a number of eye-catching cameos.

“I’ve just been getting myself out in every which way possible and my concentration was perhaps lapsing a little bit earlier in the season. I’ve just got to keep working hard and I’m sure the runs will come.”

Lyth was always likely to find it tougher this year after he flourished in his first full summer, with bowlers now having had time to assess his strengths and weaknesses.

But Lyth does not feel they have tried anything particularly different against him this time around.

“I don’t think bowlers have bowled any differently to me,” he stressed. “They seem to have bowled in pretty similar areas.

“I think last year I probably left the ball better than I have done this year, which is why I’ve managed to get out cheaply.

“I let them bowl to my strengths last year, whereas this year I’ve probably gone at the ball a bit too hard and played into their hands.

“I’ve just got to keep telling myself to let the ball come to me and to try to play it as late as possible.”

Lyth and his colleagues will be eyeing a much-needed victory at Grace Road, with Yorkshire second-bottom of the Twenty20 North Group after three wins from nine games.

Joe Sayers returns to the squad in place of Anthony McGrath, while Steve Patterson is unavailable after picking up a side strain.

Read Chris Waters’s exciting new column in tomorrow’s Yorkshire Post.