Yorkshire CCC review of season, part one: Plenty of progress, but the hard part remains
LIKE the mosquito in the nudist colony, where do you start?
Perhaps with the events of July 15.
The second-biggest knockout match in the sporting world that day saw Argentina beat England in their football World Cup semi-final in Atlanta. The biggest, as every Yorkshire supporter knows, saw Somerset beat the White Rose at Headingley in the Vitality Blast quarter-final.
That was the day Craig Overton produced moments of magic of which Lionel Messi might have been proud, the day, above all others, that will be remembered when this season has faded into little more than a footnote in Yorkshire’s history.
Overton’s innings of 79 not out from 30 balls, with five sixes and eight fours, rescued Somerset from 82-8 in the 15th over of their pursuit of 162 and guided them to a two-wicket win with one ball remaining. It made the turnaround in Atlanta, where England led 1-0 going into the 85th minute only to lose 2-1, seem humdrum by comparison. Even at a ground that specialises in miracles, it was one of the most remarkable performances that Headingley has seen.
One felt for Anthony McGrath, the Yorkshire head coach, who looked shell-shocked afterwards, along with his players. Yorkshire had played some excellent cricket in the competition up to that point, only to see a place at Finals Day cruelly snatched away.
The club got its recruitment spot on, signing the Pakistan pace bowler Hassan Ali, who finished as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker, and the Australian quick AJ Tye, who played his part with bat and ball.
But despite it all, Yorkshire still couldn’t get over the line, also losing in the quarter-finals of the One-Day Cup to Nottinghamshire at York, having won six of eight group games in that competition.
All of which tells us two things: 1) Yorkshire have built a very competitive white-ball side, almost 25 years since they last won a limited-overs trophy; 2) their greatest challenge is to rectify a recurring inability to finish the job, evident again last year in the One-Day Cup semi-finals, but stretching back for many moons now.
This isn’t a side that needs rebuilding any more, but one that needs to learn how to win the decisive moments, a skill that can only be gained through the rinse and repeat of knockout cricket. The good news is that performances such as Overton’s are rare indeed; by contrast, Yorkshire had Nottinghamshire on the ropes at 1-3 in the One-Day Cup quarter-final in pursuit of 274, a position from which, nine times out of ten, they would have expected to win.
So, for all the evidence of progress in 2026, particularly in white-ball cricket, Yorkshire came no closer to ending their 11-year wait for a trophy of any kind, despite playing well enough at times to have done so in all three competitions. Indeed, but for Overton the Outrageous, they could quite easily have won the Vitality Blast; there certainly cannot have been many, if any, better Yorkshire sides in the 20-over format than the one that took to the field last summer.
In the County Championship, the tournament most beloved of their members, Yorkshire finished fifth out of 10 in Division One, pretty much the statistical embodiment of inconsistency. On the one hand, they did the double over a Somerset side that were Championship leaders going into the penultimate round and beat another title challenger, Nottinghamshire, in their final match, finishing the season with three successive wins. On the other, they were hammered by relegated Leicestershire and Hampshire.
Will the real Yorkshire please stand up? Well, at least after it has had a lie down in a darkened room, dizzy from such extremes.
You often hear it said in football that “we attack together as a team, and we defend together as a team”, the point being that every player is part of a collective effort. That is true of every team sport, and yet there was a clear split in 2026 between the effectiveness of Yorkshire’s batting and bowling departments that has to be addressed.
Yorkshire gained fewer batting points (16) than any other First Division club apart from eighth-placed Essex and bottom side Hampshire. None of their regular top six averaged even 30. Even accounting for the generally testing nature of the pitches, the same for all counties, such statistics do not win titles.
An overseas batsman is rightly on the wish list, and that may well be all that is needed to make the difference, provided that the existing batsmen return to the fore. If not, there should be no reluctance to see what young Will Bennison can do following his positive impression in the One-Day Cup, nor to revisit the talents of a player like Fin Bean. Yorkshire’s coaching staff showed admirable faith in their top-six in 2026 and, spicy pitches or otherwise, deserved better returns.
The bowling attack seems of title-winning standard. Tried-and-trusted performers, more good recruitment and some good youngsters coming through, such as Ben Cliff, give Yorkshire the ability to take 20 wickets. That, in turn, makes it easier to strengthen the batting through overseas means, although if you had an overseas combination of Imam-ul-Haq, say, and Kuldeep Yadav, that would be the perfect scenario.
George Hill was again the main man of the attack, following his 51-wicket haul last year with one of 48. He also topped Yorkshire’s batting charts and took the most catches by an outfielder along with Dom Bess, who had a fine year himself as a player and captain.
The obvious downside of “Hill for England”, of course, is that Yorkshire would clearly feel his absence, rather like Argentina taking to the field without Messi. Hill’s presence, one senses, remains vital to progress.
Ultimately, though, and with no disrespect to Warwickshire, there was no outstanding side in Division One this year. Yorkshire had the opportunity to win it, which will only add to their frustration. There is a real chance, in fact, for several teams, Yorkshire among them, to grab the Championship by the scruff of the neck and potentially dominate in the coming years.
In the aftermath of that quarter-final defeat at Overton’s hands, one of the most crushing Yorkshire have suffered, McGrath said that “Craig apologised to us on the way off”.
Yorkshire’s challenge is to ensure that next time it is they who have the last word.