Pace ace Jhye ready to fly as Yorkshire turn their attention to Headingley clash
YORKSHIRE will give a debut to Jhye Richardson, the Australian fast bowler, in the County Championship match against Hampshire at Headingley, starting on Friday.
Anthony McGrath, the club’s head coach, confirmed that Richardson will make his first appearance after joining for the initial block of four-day games.
Richardson, 29, did not play in the match against Glamorgan in Cardiff as his travel plans were disrupted by the war in Iran and because Yorkshire wanted to give him time to acclimatise.
Yorkshire drew the game at Sophia Gardens, reaching 239-7 in their second innings in pursuit of 295 to win.
“Jhye didn't get here until Wednesday because of a change of flight, so it was too tight for him to play in this game,” said McGrath.
“We thought he’d be better off staying up there (in Yorkshire) and he’s managed to do a bit of bowling at Headingley, so that will give him a good lead into the next game rather than trying to rush him straight down here.
“He’s a quality performer who played in the Ashes, had a good second half of the Shield season, and he swings the ball at decent pace, so he'll be that point of difference and I think we're all excited for him to get going.
“That's what you want, really, that variation, so hopefully the skills he's got will complement the rest of the bowlers.”
Of Yorkshire’s performance in Wales, McGrath said: “We've not been at our best this game, particularly with the bat, but I think at tea we still very much fancied our chances of a win, needing 170 with 34 overs and nine wickets left.
“But, as in the first innings, we lost key wickets and that ultimately didn’t allow us to push on. But, 10 points first game, we’ll take that and it blew some cobwebs off.”