Yorkshire Carnegie v Durham Dynamos: Spin star backed to rediscover old form by Moxon

WHAT has become of David Wainwright?

That has been a big talking point among Yorkshire's supporters after the left-arm spinner was a notable absentee from the club's opening two games in the Twenty20 Cup.

Wainwright, 25, was one of Yorkshire's star performers in the competition last season, out-bowling England leg-spinner Adil Rashid.

But he was overlooked for last week's matches against Derbyshire and Worcestershire and instead played in the three-day fixture against India A, returning 0-134 from 25 overs.

Martyn Moxon, Yorkshire's director of cricket, has revealed Wainwright remains very much part of his first team plans but is ironing out flaws in his bowling action.

The player has experienced one or two technical issues since the end of last summer and is currently working hard to put those right.

Moxon said that in a concerted attempt to put more spin on the ball, Wainwright's action has encountered difficulties.

But he insists the player has made important progress this week by making subtle adjustments to the angle of his run-up and believes he will soon be back to his radiant best.

"Wainers hasn't bowled as well as he can so far this season," said Moxon.

"He's had a few technical things he's been working on throughout the winter and into this season and hasn't been totally comfortable with those.

"He's been battling against them a little bit and not been feeling at his best himself.

"He wasn't told to change anything – he just wanted to make a few tweaks and try and spin the ball more, which was his big desire over the winter.

"In trying to do that, however, a couple of things he's tinkered with haven't quite gelled yet.

"We've been looking at footage of him bowling this year and last year and trying to work out a correct way forward for him.

"I'd like to think this week we've made a bit of a breakthrough.

"Having watched him bowl against India A, we studied the footage closely and put a couple of things into practice in the last couple of days – particularly trying to work on an angle that gives him a sideways position on release but one that's well-balanced.

"He seems a lot happier now, so I'm hoping he'll soon be back to top form."

Wainwright is not in Yorkshire's 14-man squad for this evening's Twenty20 game against Durham at Headingley Carnegie (5.30pm) but Moxon hasn't ruled out the possibility of him featuring later in the competition.

"The idea of Wainers not being involved in Twenty20 to start with was so he could play some longer-form cricket," added Moxon.

"Unfortunately, having played against India A, he picked up a slight knee injury so wasn't fit to play in the second team game this week.

"But, as I say, the signs in the last couple of days have been very encouraging and, if he's bowling well, he could play Twenty20.

"At the same time, though, we need to make sure he's comfortable and bowling well before throwing him into that form of the game."

Yorkshire are anxious tonight to return to winning ways.

"There's still 14 matches to go and we probably need to win just over half of those to reach the quarter-finals," added Moxon.

"We haven't got much margin for error and we're finding it a challenge at the moment from a bowling point of view to a) pick the right options at the right time and b) execute them properly.

"We've been missing our lengths – not by much, but just enough – and haven't bowled as well as we can.

"We know what we need to work on, but the frustration this week is that we've been stuck indoors for two days because of the weather and you never get the same quality of practice indoors."

The imperative for greater control is emphasised by the fact Yorkshire have conceded over 200 in each of their first two games.

"The boundaries were short at Worcester and we also had one short boundary at Headingley, but I think the scores this year have generally been higher," added Moxon.

"Probably 200 this year was equal to 170 last year, and batsmen seem to be coming harder at bowlers.

"Last year, we tended to score 130-140 max, so we've upped our game from a batting point of view. Now we need to do the same with our bowling."

Yorkshire (from): Gale (captain), Rudolph, Gibbs, McGrath, Brophy, Bairstow, Rashid, Pyrah, Shahzad, McKay, Rafiq, Patterson, Lyth, Sanderson.