Sam Whiteman: I’m surprised more Yorkshire players aren’t at The Hundred

For Whiteman, it is a curious - if welcome - sight.

He expected more of his team-mates to be wanted by the franchises - players who are instead helping Yorkshire in the One-Day Cup.

“I look at some of our players and think, ‘I don’t get how that guy’s not at The Hundred, or that guy,’” he said.

“I look at ‘Lythy’, for example (Adam Lyth). He scored 130 off 60 balls recently in the (T20) Blast.

“I don’t know how he’s not playing The Hundred, how Will Luxton’s not playing The Hundred - the same with ‘Warts’ (James Wharton) and ‘Hilly’ (George Hill).

“No doubt they’ll get picked up at some point if they keep doing what they’re doing, and hopefully we can cash in while we’ve got that talent around, take this competition as deep as we can.”

Whiteman, 34, was speaking ahead of Yorkshire’s final group game against Essex at Chelmsford on Tuesday. The side are second in Group B and all but sure of a top-three finish to qualify for the knockouts.

Victory would almost certainly clinch second spot and a home quarter-final at York on Friday, while third place would mean an away tie. Top spot, though, is effectively out of reach, meaning any semi-final on Sunday would be away from home, with the final not until September 20.

“The Hundred is obviously an extremely difficult comp to get in, and I guess part of it’s luck as well about teams wanting you or not,” Whiteman added.

“But I’m certainly surprised that more of our players are not involved.

“I guess the talent level of the English cricketer is just super-impressive. I had a stint at Northants for a year and it was exactly the same. The depth of the talent is amazing.”

Yorkshire had six players picked for The Hundred, although four of those were never realistically going to feature in the One-Day Cup.

Jonny Bairstow (London Spirit), Harry Brook (SunRisers Leeds), Joe Root (Welsh Fire) and Adil Rashid (Southern Brave) have all been staples of the competition, while Rashid has not played for Yorkshire for over four years.

Matty Revis (SunRisers Leeds) and Jafer Chohan (Welsh Fire) were the other two chosen, although Chohan - yet to represent Fire - was released back to Yorkshire for their last One-Day Cup match against Derbyshire at Scarborough.

Two Yorkshire players on Vitality Blast-only deals are at The Hundred as injury replacements - Moeen Ali (Southern Brave) and A.J. Tye (London Spirit).

Whiteman almost reached 100 himself - a three-figure score, that is, as opposed to the competition.

The left-hander fell for 94 in that Derbyshire game, leading a pursuit of 279 as Yorkshire won by five wickets with four balls left.

“I would have loved to finish it off but it was nice to be able to take it deep,” he said, having fallen 14 runs short of the winning line to the first ball of the penultimate over.

“But credit to ‘Warts’ (who scored 75) and ‘Hilly’ (63 not out), who played really well.

“We know at Scarborough that if you take the innings deep and you get some set batters in, it can be really hard to shut them down.

“It’s tough to field there and the ball just flies away. It was nice to contribute and help put us in a good position going into the final group game.”

Whiteman’s innings was the second-highest of his one-day career, behind an unbeaten 137 for Western Australia three years ago. He has had a productive tournament, scoring 316 runs in seven innings at an average of 63.20. Of his team-mates, only Hill has a better average (64.33), while only Luxton (344) has scored more runs.

“I love the one-day format,” added a man who joined Yorkshire from Western Australia on a three-year all-format contract in January.

“You get a bit of a chance to play good cricket shots and 300 balls is a long time, particularly after playing T20, so it sort of suits my batting.

“I’ve come over here and tried to enjoy it, got to know everyone and I’ve been really impressed with the group as well.

“The group has welcomed me and ultimately I’m just trying to contribute as best I can.”

It helps to have family close by.

Whiteman – who was born in Doncaster before moving to Australia with his family at the age of three – has been catching up with various relatives.

“Dad sort of moved back to Doncaster when I was about 20, so as soon as I started playing professional cricket,” he said.

“He’s been at most of my games this year, and I’ve seen some family around the country that I haven’t seen in three or four years, so that’s been really nice.

“The weather’s been a treat as well, and I'm enjoying life in Leeds.”