Yorkshire CCC dealt Ben Coad injury blow
THE Yorkshire seamer Ben Coad is facing a lengthy lay-off after the club confirmed that he is suffering from a side injury.
Yorkshire put out a statement prior to their County Championship match against Sussex at Headingley, which ended in a draw on Monday, which said that Coad, 32, had picked up an unspecified injury in training and that they would give a further update “in due course”.
Following the game, Anthony McGrath, the Yorkshire head coach, revealed that Coad - one of the club’s best and most consistent performers - would likely be out for at least six weeks.
McGrath said he did not expect him to feature again before the two Championship matches in the middle of the Vitality Blast, against Warwickshire at Scarborough (June 12-15) and against Leicestershire at Grace Road (June 19-22).
“We're still not fully clear on it, but it's a side injury, so they're not great,” said McGrath, who pronounced himself happy overall with the performance against Sussex.
“We certainly won’t see him in this current block of Championship games. He felt something in training and stopped straight away; it’s a bit of a tear in the side, his left side as well, so it’s pretty fundamental to how he bowls.
“Hopefully, we can get him back as soon as possible, because we're pretty much down to the bowlers that played in this game and Ben Cliff.
"But I'd be surprised if we see him before the two Championship games in the middle of the T20.”
Meanwhile, McGrath is one of four county representatives chosen to form a County Insight Group set up by England in an effort to fix the perceived disconnect between the national set-up and the first-class counties.
McGrath and his former Yorkshire team-mate Richard Dawson, the Glamorgan head coach, along with their Division Two counterparts Mickey Arthur (Derbyshire) and Alan Richardson (Worcestershire), will provide feedback in quarterly meetings to help inform England’s selection strategies.