McGrath urges Yorkshire to finish 40-over campaign on a high

While the Headingley outfit’s poor form in the 40-over tournament has contributed to a forgettable season, the former England player is calling for morale-boosting victories in one-day games to aid his side’s survival prospects in the County Championship.

McGrath, who scored a century against Hampshire in Yorkshire’s last match, believes that Yorkshire’s attempts to mount a challenge for the cup have been scuppered by injuries to key players.

“We’ve had to chop and change quite a bit,” said the 35-year-old ahead of the match at Lord’s.

“A club of our size should be competing for silverware at the end of the season.

“We’re just aiming to win all our remaining 40-over matches, that’s all we can do.”

The start time for Yorkshire’s CB40 match with Middlesex on Wednesday has been brought forward due to the unrest in London.

The fixture was due to start at Lord’s at 3.40pm but will now begin at 12pm following three nights of rioting on the streets of the capital.

Yorkshire were due to train this afternoon before travelling down to north London tonight, but they have instead headed straight to their hotel in the capital.

Senior batsman McGrath told the Yorkshire Post: “I’m a little bit concerned.

“Obviously we all saw it unfolding on the news last night and we’re going to be a little closer to it now. Hopefully they can get things under control, but it looks pretty bad from the scenes I’ve seen and things I’ve heard on the radio.

“Hopefully the police and government can get it sorted as soon as possible.

“Things like this can escalate quickly so hopefully it can be sorted sooner rather than later.”

All tonight’s London football matches including tomorrow’s international friendly between England and Holland have been postponed.

Should the authorities decree it unsafe for Middlesex versus Yorkshire to go ahead, McGrath said: “That’s out of our hands, we’ll just go on the advice the people give us.

“We’ve cancelled training today to go down earlier, and as players we’re just open to the advice the club or the people in charge give us.”