Moxon insisting on ruthless streak

Moxon wants them to be more ruthless as the campaign approaches make-or-break point.

Yorkshire go into today’s Twenty20 game against Worcestershire at Headingley Carnegie (5.40pm) with their summer balanced on something of a knife-edge.

The club are precariously positioned one place above the County Championship relegation zone, probably need to win their remaining seven games to reach the CB40 semi-finals and are bottom of the Twenty20 North Group after losing their opening two matches.

It has been a sharp reality check for a side that so nearly won the Championship last year and who reached the CB40 semi-finals.

In Yorkshire’s defence, they have been hampered by several injuries compared with last summer’s generally clean bill of health and are operating without an overseas player due to financial constraints.

But Moxon acknowledges they are capable of better and has been frustrated by those instances when his side have been well-placed in games only to fade away like a line of aged handwriting.

Moxon believes the key to rediscovering the winning formula lies in the simple need to make the most of those occasions when Yorkshire are on top.

“The bottom line is we have to be more ruthless,” he said.

“When we are on top, we have to make sure we don’t let the opposition back in. We have to drive the nail into the coffin, so to speak.

“You are going to have bad days during the course of a season. There are always days when things don’t go well and you’re going to get beat.

“But when you have a good day, when you are on top, that’s when you’ve got to really make it count.

“The story of our season so far has been one of missed opportunities.”

Yorkshire have paid for poor passages of play in all competitions.

In Championship cricket, they should have beaten Nottinghamshire but contrived to lose despite the visitors effectively being minus 26-6 in their second innings.

They should have beaten Hampshire after reducing their opponents to 7-4 and then 54-6, only for the visitors to improbably bat out the final 36 overs of the match to survive.

They lost by 146 runs at home to Durham after crashing from 100-2 in their first innings to 149 all-out.

They lost by 10 wickets at Somerset despite being 305-4 on the opening day before losing their last six wickets for 53 runs.

In CB40 cricket, Yorkshire lost by two runs at home to the Netherlands after plunging to 27-5 in pursuit of 191.

They lost by 52 runs at home to Derbyshire after collapsing from 125-1 to 193 all-out chasing 246.

And in last Sunday’s Twenty20 game at Nottinghamshire, they lost by 53 runs after conceding 74 runs during a five-over spell as Nottinghamshire posted 215-6 – their highest Twenty20 total.

“It’s those kind of periods that kill you,” conceded Moxon.

“If we could have kept Notts to 20 runs less last Sunday, for example, I think we might have knocked off the runs on a good pitch with a short boundary.

“We just need a little bit more care, a little bit more composure with our batting and bowling, and then we’ll see a difference in results I’m sure.

“But we’ve no divine right and have got to keep working hard.”

Today’s fixture is the first of three in four days which give Yorkshire a chance to get their 20-over campaign back on track.

They play Lancashire at Old Trafford tomorrow (5.40pm) before facing Northants at Headingley on Sunday (1.10pm).

“Ideally, we need to win two of our next three games,” added Moxon. “It won’t be easy, but that’s the sort of return we need to achieve.

“We’ve worked hard in practice during the last couple of days and it’s been the first proper chance we’ve had to practice Twenty20 after going straight into that programme after Championship cricket. I’m hopeful we’ll see the benefits of that now.”

Yorkshire have kept the same side for their first two 20-overs fixtures but may decide on a change today.

Gary Ballance could replace Joe Root in an attempt to inject more firepower lower down the order, with Ballance perhaps unfortunate not to start the tournament after his heroic performance in Yorkshire’s last Championship outing when his county-best 73 not out helped salvage a draw against Sussex at Hove.

Yorkshire are still without England pace bowlers Ajmal Shahzad (ankle) and Tim Bresnan (calf).

Shahzad could return for the Twenty20 match at home to Lancashire tomorrow week but Bresnan is not expected to feature until after the Championship fixture at Durham (June 18-21).

Yorkshire squad versus Worcestershire (from): Gale (captain), Bairstow, Lyth, McGrath, Brophy, Ballance, Rashid, Pyrah, Sidebottom, Wainwright, Patterson, Root, Rafiq.