Yorkshire CCC: Ottis Gibson targets improvements after winning start

OTTIS GIBSON has highlighted some of the areas Yorkshire can improve as they target back-to-back wins in the County Championship.
Yorkshire’s director of cricket Darren Gough and coach Ottis Gibson oversee victory at Gloucestershire. (Picture: Michael Steele/Getty Images)Yorkshire’s director of cricket Darren Gough and coach Ottis Gibson oversee victory at Gloucestershire. (Picture: Michael Steele/Getty Images)
Yorkshire’s director of cricket Darren Gough and coach Ottis Gibson oversee victory at Gloucestershire. (Picture: Michael Steele/Getty Images)

The county’s head coach was pleased with the performance and the result as Yorkshire began their season with a six-wicket win against Gloucestershire in Bristol.

Now attention turns to the fixture against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road today where Gibson hopes to witness a more complete display.

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Gibson said: “Of course, we’re not going to have the perfect game. There’s always things that you can do better.

“But hopefully we can build on the win (against Gloucestershire) because it was a good four days and a good team effort. We want to carry that on and try to improve.

“What can we improve? Our boundary count was very high (against Gloucestershire). We talk about, as a bowling unit, trying to go at under threes, so we can be better in that respect.

“Also, conceding boundaries off the first and last ball of an over. That’s another little thing that we can be better at. There’s various little disciplines that, individually, we need to take care of and maybe we lost our patience at times.

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“But, at the same time, we picked up crucial wickets and everybody played a part, everybody got wickets.

“We’d like to get some bigger partnerships with the bat, too, and hopefully we can improve in all those areas as the season goes on.”

Gibson’s attention to detail is clear – even down to the field placings for new overseas signing Haris Rauf. The Pakistan pace bowler had a good debut, taking three wickets in each innings, but he was a touch expensive in the first innings, going at over five runs per over.

Gibson said: “Of course, Haris, bowling quickly, he’s going to go for more runs, perhaps, and there were a lot of runs off the edge down to third man. It’s something we’re going to have to think about with him in terms of what our field set-up is.

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“He’s full of energy, he wants to do well, and he’s exciting for us because he gives us something that we don’t have – extreme pace.”

Another who would have learned much from the Gloucestershire game is Harry Duke, the 20-year-old wicketkeeper who was sent hither and thither by Rauf’s missiles.

Duke made the odd mistake at times but kept well for the most part and also performed impressively with the bat, justifying his position at No 6.

“Harry has not been stood back to anybody bowling that quickly before, so how far back does he need to stand?” reflected Gibson.

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“Does he stand in the same place for the new ball as for when the ball is 70 overs old? And so on.

“He was a little bit out of position a couple of times and got done, then Haris bowled his bouncer and Harry’s too short to reach the bouncer, and all the rest of it, but these are all the things we’re learning all the time.

“I’m very proud of Dukey. He kept very well overall. Yes, he made a couple of mistakes in the first innings but he took a brilliant catch off the spinner and a stumping down the leg-side was brilliant too. He also batted well.”

Looking ahead to Northants, Gibson said: “We’re looking forward to it. We’ve had a good win so everybody will be that little bit more confident.

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“I think, coming into the season, everybody’s a little bit nervous. There’s myself, all these new coaches, new physio, new S&C, a whole lot of new people in there and so on.

“Everybody’s a little bit nervous because we don’t know how it’s going to go, but once the game starts you just let it flow.

“The lads played really well (at Gloucestershire), and we’ll go again now and try and win again.”

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