Pyrah returns looking to ease the pressure on struggling Yorkshire

THERE is an optimism about Yorkshire ahead of the Twenty20 campaign that belies their past dalliances in the quickfire format of the game and their stuttering start to the 2011 season.

Struggling in the County Championship and in need of an amazing comeback to qualify for the knockout stages of the CB40 League, the unadulterated thrill of a 16-game programme offers fresh hope.

Nowhere is that belief more evident than in Rich Pyrah, a Twenty20 specialist who had finally cemented a coveted spot in the County Championship team only to be cut down in his prime by a dislocated knee.

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Now back and raring to go after returning earlier than the forecasted month-long lay-off, the 28-year-old joins Gerard Brophy and Azeem Rafiq in freshening up a weary Yorkshire squad that begins its campaign against the Warwickshire Bears at Headingley Carnegie today.

And hearteningly for members who have grown increasingly frustrated at the team’s shortcomings this season, and for those extra few thousand fans who come out to watch the crash, bang, wallop of Twenty20, Pyrah believes all signs point to a successful summer for Yorkshire.

“We’ve got an exciting team that plays attacking strokes and we have attacking bowlers,” says Dewsbury-born Pyrah.

“If it all comes off I think we could have a good campaign.

“The key to Twenty20 is having the experiences of actually playing it.

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“I’ve played a lot of it and it’s a difficult game if you haven’t played it and the lads who have, have got a good understanding of it now.

“T20 is totally different to CB40; different tactics, different ways of playing.”

Yorkshire have a chequered Twenty20 history.

They qualified for the quarter-finals in 2008 only to be ejected from the tournament due to an administration error over Rafiq’s registration.

And they stand alongside Worcestershire and Derbyshire as the only counties not to have qualified for finals day in the format’s eight-year association with English cricket.

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Asked, however, to assess Yorkshire’s strengths and weaknesses, and Pyrah reveals far more of the former than the latter.

“We’ve got a lot of talented batsmen who play naturally attacking, such as Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Andrew Gale and the list goes on,” he begins.

“The excitement for young lads to go out and express themselves is appealing.

“With the bowling we’ve got Ryan Sidebottom who’s a World Twenty20 winner and Adil Rashid who’s been one of the leading wicket-takers in the country over the last few years; then myself.

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“So I think we’ve got a good balance, it’s just about getting the processes right as well as getting our attacking shots and attacking bowling right.

“If you get a couple of wins early on it gives you a lot of confidence and puts you in a good position.

“You play so much County Championship that 20-overs a side gives you that little bit of freedom to get out there and play your shots and try different balls you normally wouldn’t try.

“In front of 15,000 people it’s enjoyable and with the weather as it is, people look forward to it.

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“It’s a big part of cricket and where the club makes a lot of its money, so hopefully we can get to finals day for the first time.”

Even when discussing the flipside of the coin, Pyrah quickly comes back to the team’s strengths.

“We haven’t had much time to practise our Twenty20 with the schedule, which has been pretty ridiculous,” continues Pyrah, whose team-mates have only just returned home from a two-week tour around the country.

“But it’s a new challenge and it will do the squad good.

“There’s going to be a new look to the side with myself, Gerard Brophy and Azeem Rafiq in the squad for today’s game, so there’s three fresh legs out there and obviously David Wainwright will be involved at some stage as well.

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“The lads who have been back at Headingley have been practising hard and the senior lads won’t be affected too much, they’re very experienced so it’s more about getting our minds right.

“For me there’s hardly any weaknesses. With Ryan Sidebottom in the team and Ajmal Shahzad steaming in we don’t miss anything. We’ve actually got a stronger bowling unit than last year.

“We’ll just take each game as it comes because there’s some good teams in our league: Durham, Notts, etc, who are going to make it tough but if we play well we’ll get through.

“We’ve got the players to do well in this tournament and there’s no reason we can’t go on and win it.

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“We’ve just got to get our processes right and hit the ground running.”

Pyrah is the second most prolific Twenty20 bowler in Yorkshire history; 43 wickets in 47 matches at 19.62.

And he is rightly proud of his achievements in the first four Championship games of the season, 15 wickets – including eight in the game against Notts that ended with a dramatic collapse – and a century and four half-centuries with the bat.

“I worked hard this winter and changed a few things technically with my bowling which has helped. I’ve got a bit of extra pace and I’m swinging it now as well,” he says.

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“I’ve become a lot more side-on with my top half which allows me to stay taller in my action, and a lot stronger so I’m not falling away. That’s given me extra pace and the ability to swing it away from right-handers which you have to do to get wickets.

“Batting-wise it’s just a matter of being given a chance. This is the first time I’ve played four Championship games in a row, so consistently playing, and knowing I’m going to be playing, definitely helps.

“I performed early season and that gave me confidence, so it made it all the more frustrating that I got injured when I did. I’d finally cemented my place in the Championship side so to have that injury was very disappointing.

“Hopefully myself coming back gives the side a lift after missing the last month of cricket.

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“I enjoy Twenty20, it suits my kind of bowling, I mix it up with yorkers, slow balls, slow-ball bouncers. You’ve got to do that and not be predictable.”

HOW YORKSHIRE FARED IN T20 IN RECENT SEASONS

* This is the ninth season of Twenty20 cricket in England. Yorkshire’s last three seasons:

* 2008: Yorkshire qualify for the quarter-finals but just as their last-eight match at Durham is about to start, the match is abandoned and Yorkshire are ejected from the competition after the ECB finds them guilty of fielding an unregistered player, Azeem Rafiq, pictured, in an earlier group game.

* 2009: Fail to reach quarter-finals after losing their last four games.

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* 2010: Yorkshire, with explosive South African Herschelle Gibbs in their ranks, win just six of 16 games to finish sixth in the North Group.

* Team and individual honours

* Highest total for: 213-7 v Worcestershire, Headingley, 2010

* Highest total against: 222-5 v Derbyshire, Headingley, 2010

* Lowest total for: 90-9 v Durham, Riverside, 2009

* Lowest total against: 98 v Durham, Riverside, 2006

* Largest margin of runs victory: 104 v Worcestershire, Headingley, 2010

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* Largest margin of runs defeat: 110 v Lancashire, Old Trafford, 2005

* Narrowest margin of wickets victory: 3 v Leicestershire, Headingley, 2009

* Narrowest margin of runs victory: 4 v Lancashire, Old Trafford, 2008

* Most runs in a season: 443 Herschelle Gibbs

* Best bowling figures: 4-20 RJ Pyrah v Durham, Headingley, 2008; and A Rashid v Leicestershire, Headingley, 2010

* Most wickets: 47 TT Bresnan, pictured; 43 RJ Pyrah

* Most appearances: 57 A McGrath (2004-10)