Yorkshire CCC head coach Anthony McGrath on T20 quarter-final: We’ve got a brilliant chance if we play to our potential
ANTHONY MCGRATH insists Yorkshire will go into their Vitality Blast quarter-final on Wednesday full of confidence and with “a brilliant chance” of reaching Finals Day.
The Yorkshire head coach was speaking ahead of his team’s last-eight meeting with Somerset at Headingley.
Victory against the holders - who have reached the last five Finals Days, winning two - would see Yorkshire advance to the showpiece event at Edgbaston on Saturday.
“If we play like we have for the majority of the competition, I think we've got a brilliant chance,” said McGrath.
“It’s nice to have a home quarter-final, and we’ll take plenty of confidence into it from what we’ve done in the group stage.
“We've got options with bat and ball, we’re very dangerous with the bat towards the back end as well, and we’ve got plenty of options in the bowling department.
“Apart from Friday night against Lancashire, we’ve fielded brilliantly too, so we’ve certainly got a lot to be confident about.”
Yorkshire arguably head into the match as slight favourites despite their historically poor T20 record.
They finished two points better off than Somerset in the group stage, which helped to earn the home quarter-final, and they have two of the top-five wicket-takers in the competition - Hassan Ali (25) and A.J. Tye (20).
Somerset’s leading wicket-taker is Daniel Sams (17).
Both clubs have one player in the top-10 leading run-scorers’ list - James Rew ninth with 426, and Yorkshire’s Adam Lyth 10th with 409.
Somerset have been there and done it, however, winning the trophy three times as well as making 11 Finals Day appearances in total (a record only Hampshire can match).
Yorkshire are still seeking their first trophy after three Finals Day visits in 2012, 2016 and 2022.
“It’s just about not doing anything different,” said McGrath as he looked ahead to a quarter-final that starts at 4.30pm to avoid a clash with England’s football World Cup semi-final against Argentina (8pm kick-off), which spectators can watch afterwards on the big screen.
“It's about going into the game exactly how we've approached the whole competition.
“Yes, it's a knockout game, there's more on it, but it's still the same process.
“We know, at this stage, with eight teams left that anyone can beat anyone, and it’s just who handles it best on the day.”
In the other quarter-finals, Hampshire meet Essex at Southampton, Notts play Surrey at Trent Bridge, and Northants host Gloucestershire at Wantage Road.
Should Yorkshire advance, due to the seeding system in place for the knockout stages that is based on group positions, they would play the winner of Northants and Gloucestershire in the first semi-final (11am start).
It raises the possibility of a meeting with the former Yorkshire batsman Darren Lehmann, the Northants’ head coach whose side achieved the most points (36) of any club in the group stage, after nine wins from 12 games sealed top spot in the Central & West Group.
Yorkshire, who finished second in the North Group after seven wins, four defeats and one tie, have named a 14-man squad for their first ever T20 match against Somerset.
There is no Joe Root, who is now back with England, while Faheem Ashraf is still unavailable due to a hand injury.
Moeen Ali has been included after McGrath said after Sunday’s game that the all-rounder had “a little bit of a tweak in his calf”.
George Hill is an option to come back into the team as an all-rounder, with Dan Moriarty providing an extra spin option alongside Moeen and Dom Bess.
Somerset are without Tom Banton due to England duty, plus Tom Lammonby (elbow) and Migael Pretorius (pectoral injury).
Yorkshire (from): Moeen Ali, Hassan Ali, Bairstow (captain), Bess, Chohan, Cliff, Hill, Luxton, Lyth, Moriarty, Revis, Tye, van Beek, Whiteman.
Somerset (from): T. Rew, Smeed, Kohler-Cadmore, J. Rew, Thomas, Gregory (captain), Goldsworthy, Sams, Abell, Overton, Vaughan, Leech, Meredith, Ball, Shaw.