Plenty to play for says Anthony McGrath as Yorkshire CCC looks to hit back after Leicester loss
ANTHONY MCGRATH says Yorkshire “still have a hell of a lot to play for” as they prepare to return to T20 action – five days after the loss in Leicestershire that hit their hopes in the County Championship.
Yorkshire face Hampshire in Southampton on Friday (7pm start) to kick-off the second half of the Vitality Blast group stage.
McGrath’s men lead the North Group with four wins from six, while Hampshire top the South Group with five wins from six, this match being one of two cross-group fixtures that each club plays in the revamped tournament.
“Of course it’s a sombre mood for a day or two, which it should be after a result like Leicester, but we’ve still got a hell of a lot to play for,” said McGrath, the Yorkshire head coach.
“We’re top of our T20 group, we’ve got the 50-overs competition to come, which went well last year, and there’s still six games left in the Championship.
“So, while Leicester was disappointing, it was more of a missed opportunity rather than where we’re going with our team at the moment.
“The Championship table is still tight, and there’s a lot of cricket still to be played.”
It seems curious to say that Yorkshire are looking forward to getting back on the T20 horse – normally they cannot wait to get off it.
The club has never won the tournament but has found a good formula up to now, with a useful blend of youth and experience.
New signings such as Moeen Ali and Hassan Ali have settled in well, while old hands such as Jonny Bairstow and Adam Lyth have played their part. There has been a much better balance to the side.
“One of the things we wanted to address in the winter was the balance,” said McGrath.
“We’ve now got various options with the ball, for example, in the death and powerplay overs, and also in terms of the spin as well.
“I think we lacked power throughout the innings with the bat last year, and, again, with the additions that we’ve made, we bat right down.
“We’ve got people who can hit boundaries right down to No 11 which, in this form of the game, is vital.”
McGrath said there was another factor in signing players such as Moeen.
The 39-year-old – part of the Antwerp Anchors team that finished runners-up in the EUT20 in Belgium while the Vitality Blast took a short break – is among those he hopes will help Yorkshire’s youngsters through a process of osmosis as much as anything.
“The younger guys we’ve got are going to be here for a lot of years, and just to have them around guys who’ve played international cricket in T20 and also franchise cricket can only be helpful,” he said.
“I think that’s a big thing because you learn the game by playing, of course, and you learn the game by training, but just to be able to tap into these guys and just see how calm they are more than anything, and not panicking under pressure, is a real boost to our younger lads.
“What we’ve also tried to do is get the younger guys who have not been in the squad to come and be involved in training and watch these guys and try and pick up stuff as well, so it wasn’t just for what they could do on the pitch that we signed those players.
“Not only do they make us a better team, but we also wanted to go a bit deeper than that and kind of just spread a bit of knowledge throughout our younger players and help accelerate their development that way as well.”
Now Yorkshire face three-times winners Hampshire, who beat them on the only occasion that they reached the final themselves in 2012.
Hampshire have reached four of the last five Finals Days and 11 overall, so McGrath is expecting a difficult test.
“They've been one of the most consistent teams, so it's probably a good barometer of where we're at,” he said.
“We’ve just got to remember what we've done so well in T20 up to now.
“This game, and then the one against Derbyshire at Chesterfield on Sunday, are two difficult ones but exciting ones too.
"We know that if we win one or both of them we’re going to be in a very good position.”
McGrath added: “At the end of the day, it’s exciting and we’ve just got to be brave in terms of how we go about it.
"That’s how we’ve got to approach it – that’s how we’ve got to approach every game – and, if we do that, we’ll win more than we lose.”
Yorkshire have named a 14-man squad for the Hampshire and Derbyshire games.
Nine of its number were involved across two T20 friendlies against Lancashire at Weetwood on Wednesday, the White Rose winning one match, the Red Rose the other.
Yorkshire squad: Bairstow (captain), Bess, Chohan, Cliff, Faheem Ashraf, Hassan Ali, Hill, Luxton, Lyth, Moeen Ali, Moriarty, Revis, Tye, Whiteman.