Why Mickey Edwards is a rarity as Darren Gough and Yorkshire CCC scour pace bowler market

Nowadays it’s a different story due to the rise in franchise and international cricket.

It's a problem which Darren Gough, the Yorkshire managing director of cricket, is acutely aware of having scanned the market closely in recent months.

Having pulled off something of a coup by snapping up New Zealand quick Neil Wagner only for injury to then rule him out of an overseas deal at Yorkshire, Gough reflected: “You can’t just go out and get bowlers nowadays with pace, pace, pace.

“None of them want to play now. They all want to play in the IPL. They’re all white-ball cricketers. They don’t want to come and play a four-day game.

“That’s what has happened in the game. There’s no real express pace. We were lucky to get Haris Rauf last year because he was someone who was trying to improve his reputation.

“Again, you can get someone like that, but they can’t play every game. You might be signing someone to play once every three games.”

Had Gough wished to replace Wagner like-for-like, or even partial-for-partial, he could not simply have picked up a phone to the nearest agent.

Yorkshire have had some fine fast bowlers themselves in the not-too-distant past; Mitchell Starc played for the club in 2012, albeit before his career had really taken off; ditto the head coach at that time, Jason Gillespie, who played for Yorkshire towards the end of his career.

“There would have been a time when you’d have been able to get a Starc, a Cummins, or a Hazelwood, those guys, but you can’t get them now,” said Gough.

“You have to get young players who have probably not played Test cricket yet, who are on the verge, and they’re trying to force their way into the side.

“There’s a couple of Aussies over here this year playing for Northants because they were trying to get into the Ashes squad.

"It’s difficult. There’s not much out there.”

One man Gough was glad to sign is Mickey Edwards, the Australian quick bowler who made his County Championship debut in last week’s game against Sussex at Hove, which ended in a rain-affected draw.

Although 28 years old, Edwards is a work-in-progress having played only 19 matches across the three formats, and the fact that he holds a British passport owing to family links in Shropshire kept Yorkshire’s costs down.

“He’s not overseas. If he was an overseas player, he would have cost us an absolute fortune,” said Gough.

“We signed Edwards as a county player.

"He’s a county cricketer on a county cricketer’s salary.”

Gough has been pleased with what he has witnessed so far.

“He’s left-field,” said Gough. “I’d been watching him online; I was going to fly to Australia to watch him in a game, but with all the technology there is now you’ve got everything at your fingertips.

“My set-up at home, when I’m not at a game, is unreal. I can watch every ball, rewind, watch every dismissal, and so on.

“You can have a first-team and second-team game on at the same time; it’s amazing what technology can do now.

“I watched Edwards on their (Australia’s) version of nvplay.

"I watched him on certain social media. I could see he had talent.”