Yorkshire CCC looking to convert solid starts into something more meaty
YORKSHIRE are targeting more ruthlessness with the bat in a bid to turn a solid start to the season into a title-winning summer.
After three rounds of the Rothesay County Championship, they are sixth in the 10-strong First Division with 40 points following a defeat to Hampshire, a win over Worcestershire and a draw against Durham.
Yorkshire are only nine points behind joint pacesetters Nottinghamshire and Sussex despite having the second-lowest conversion rate of fifties to hundreds of First Division sides (15.38 per cent), with only Worcestershire (12.50 per cent) below them.
It pinpoints one of the biggest areas for improvement for the team moving forward, with Yorkshire having scored more fifties (11) than any other club in Division One but just the two hundreds so far – Adam Lyth’s 106 at Hampshire and Dom Bess’s 107 at home to Worcestershire.
“A little bit of a trait of ours has been that we’ve got batsmen in looking comfortable and have just given wickets away,” said Anthony McGrath, the Yorkshire head coach.
“That’s one thing we need to improve as a team.
“It showed with Alex and Emilio batting for Durham (Alex Lees hit 172 and Emilio Gay 152 in the Easter holiday fixture at Chester-le-Street).
“They were ruthless.”
Helped by Lees and Gay’s performances, Durham have the joint-best conversion rate (50 per cent) in Division One along with holders Surrey, although neither has been able to capitalise with the ball.
Durham’s two defeats prior to the Yorkshire draw mean that they are second-bottom of the table, 11 points above a Worcestershire side whose cause already looks distinctly unpromising even at this early stage, having been trounced by 504 runs against Yorkshire at Headingley (the heaviest defeat in Championship history) and unanimously tipped by the bookmakers for relegation.
Along with Durham, second-placed Sussex are the only other team to have had five hundreds in the opening three rounds, to go with six fifties, which gives them the next-best conversion rate of 45.45 per cent.
McGrath’s call for improvement was echoed in the aftermath of the Durham game by Jonny Bairstow, the Yorkshire captain.
Paying tribute to the efforts of his former Yorkshire team-mate Lees and also Gay, Bairstow said: “For two of their guys to get 150, it’s exactly what Division One cricket is about.
“It’s probably the biggest difference between that and Division Two. When a team’s on top, they don’t let you off, and that’s a lesson we can learn as a group.”
Acknowledging that there were “a few softer dismissals” than Yorkshire would have liked, Bairstow added: “As a group, we’ll look to improve on that.
"I think that’s a fairly easy fix, if I’m honest. There’s a lot of talent within the group.”
COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE
Team Hundreds Fifties Conversion Rate
Durham 5 5 50.00%
Surrey 4 8 50.00%
Sussex 5 6 45.45%
Essex 4 5 44.44%
Nottinghamshire 4 7 36.36%
Somerset 2 6 25.00%
Hampshire 1 4 20.00%
Warwickshire 2 8 20.00%
Yorkshire 2 11 15.38%
Worcestershire 1 7 12.50%