Yorkshire CCC hoping to prosper in Vitality T20 Blast at less-than-happy hunting ground that is Trent Bridge

IT would be ironic indeed if Yorkshire were to go to Trent Bridge – a ground where they have a dreadful record in T20 cricket – and gain the elusive victory that kick-starts their season.

Only four times in the 20-year history of the tournament have they won at the venue, where they have their worst away record in terms of defeats – 14 (including on each of their last six visits).

Yorkshire have lost eight of their last nine T20s in Nottingham, where they last ran out victors in 2015.

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Their only other T20 triumphs there came in 2005, 2008 and 2012 – not the sort of statistics to inspire confidence for a club that has not won anywhere, home or away, in any competition now for over nine months, one that has since lost nine of 12 fixtures in all cricket.

Keeping the faith: Yorkshire captain Shan Masood. Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images.Keeping the faith: Yorkshire captain Shan Masood. Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images.
Keeping the faith: Yorkshire captain Shan Masood. Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images.

If Yorkshire were a football team ailing in front of goal, the sort unable to hit the proverbial barn door from five yards out, they would be the type that desperately needed the ball to go in anyhow, any way – off the goalkeeper’s buttocks via both posts if necessary.

From somewhere, anywhere, a win is needed, and with Lancashire the visitors to Headingley on Thursday, a club widely fancied to go all the way (they have also won four of the last five Roses T20s in Leeds), the next two games present a stiff challenge.

Shan Masood, the Yorkshire captain who has presided over four defeats in four matches since joining the club (three in the Blast, one in the Championship) is looking on the bright side as a captain must do.

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He is trying to flip the situation by telling his players that if they can beat Nottinghamshire and Lancashire – a big ‘if’, admittedly – then the confidence engendered could then see them soar, as well as pointing out how he was part of a Derbyshire side that began last year’s competition poorly before reaching the last eight.

Trent Bridge: scene of many a disappointment for Yorkshire in T20. Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images.Trent Bridge: scene of many a disappointment for Yorkshire in T20. Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images.
Trent Bridge: scene of many a disappointment for Yorkshire in T20. Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images.

“I keep stressing that last year at Derby we had four losses from the first six games, then we ended up winning six out of the next seven and finishing up with nine wins, which was a record for the club, so you have to believe, you have to keep believing,” said Masood.

“We’ve got 11 games left in this group stage and we’ve got two great opponents coming up, Notts and Lancs, and if you win against them then you know where the confidence can go from there, so it’s about believing and getting the results.

“Who knows, fate works in funny ways.

"Maybe we’re destined to start off our season by winning against Notts and Lancs, so we’re going to make sure that the boys are not feeling down when it’s time to deliver.”

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Masood has a task on his hands in that respect, for Yorkshire are a good team on paper but playing without confidence.

If ever a format lent itself to sudden surges in form, however, both positive and negative, it is T20, where the picture can change in the blink of an eye and where Yorkshire would feel a darn sight happier about life if they could somehow win at least one of their next two fixtures.

Masood’s contention following his team’s latest defeat that Yorkshire possess more quality than the three sides who have beaten them in the competition to date, Birmingham, Worcestershire and Durham, is open to question to a greater or lesser extent, but the underlying message is an honest reflection that Yorkshire are not performing to their capabilities.

Much of that is clearly down to the off-field events that have ripped the heart and soul from the club, destroyed lives, wrecked careers and cost the club millions of pounds, eliminating a great deal of goodwill and loyalty in the process.

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Addressing suggestions of a lack of confidence within the camp, perfectly understandable given everything that has happened, Masood said: “It’s human nature when you’re not winning, or not doing well. Nobody likes it. Your mind works in a funny way, your subconscious works in a funny way.

"If we had it all figured out then I’m sure we’d be responding to that.

“Yes, the results haven’t been great, but that’s why you have to treat every day as a new day.

"You have to believe, coming into the new game, that this is a new day and whatever is done is done.

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“You can’t hold on to it, and you must look forward to a good, positive result.

"I think that’s what the boys can do.

“There’s no harm in feeling hurt or being down about a result, because that means you care, and I’d rather have people that care and take the pain for the club than people who don’t care.”

Yorkshire are without leg-spinner Adil Rashid, who reportedly has a sore back following his return from the Indian Premier League.

Masood said that as far as he understood it, “Rash has asked for a bit of time in terms of rehab and conditioning.

“We’re hoping we get him back as soon as possible.”