Yorkshire CCC star Matty Revis can play for England says coach Ottis Gibson

When it comes to Matty Revis, the young Yorkshire all-rounder making excellent strides with bat and ball, the answer is right to the top according to the county’s head coach Ottis Gibson.

“Revis has the potential to be an England all-rounder; I’ve told him that since last year,” said Gibson.

“I think that he’s a fantastic young cricketer.

“I feel like he’s somebody who, as he continues to develop and get better and understand his game a bit better, will only improve.

“I can also see him getting into franchise tournaments around the world soon, and so on, and playing a lot of cricket around the world; he’s just a very good cricketer.”

As a former international cricketer/coach himself, there are few better qualified than Gibson to assess Revis’s capabilities.

The 21-year-old made his Yorkshire debut as an opening batsman in 2019 - two months shy of his 18th birthday, playing in the famous match at Headingley in which Darren Stevens scored a double hundred and took seven wickets as Kent inflicted on Yorkshire their heaviest defeat by a runs margin (433).

The only way is up after a baptism of fire of that sort and Revis, an imposing and powerful presence on the field with both bat and ball, is undoubtedly on an upward curve.

He has since developed into more of a middle-order batsman/pace bowler, albeit one with the flexibility to play in various positions and in various roles, according to the needs of the coach and the team, and he has come into his own this season especially.

“If he’d played as a batsman only last year, he probably wouldn’t have played as much cricket, because he played about seven or eight (Championship) games last year,” added Gibson.

“When I came here (to Yorkshire), I heard that he’d only just started bowling not long beforehand; he was a batsman first, and when you look at the batting we had last year, I played him in the bowling position to give him some opportunities in the team and to work on his bowling, so it’s nice to see his batting and his bowling now coming to the fore.

“There’s still a lot more development to do on his bowling; sometimes he comes on and he goes at fives (five runs an over) because he can’t hold his length properly yet, and that’s the work for him going forward, because – I say this to every fast bowler that I’ve ever coached – it’s not what the ball does, it’s where it does it from, so can you hold your length consistently?

“‘Rev’ is only 21, he’s only been bowling for a few years and the raw materials that he’s got are fantastic.”

Gibson, 54, has a simple benchmark when it comes to all-rounders - can they get into the side as either a batsman or bowler? That is the challenge he has set Revis.

He explained: “All my all-rounders, I’ve always challenged them to sort of… look, there’s not many Jacques Kallis’s around, but Kallis could make the team as a batsman or he could make the team as a bowler, and that to me is the true definition of an all-rounder.

“So I’m challenging him (Revis) to be that sort of person. Can you, if you break a finger, can I play you as a batsman, for instance?

“Or, if you’ve got an injury and you can’t bowl, or if you’re struggling, can I still put you into the team regardless? That’s his challenge.”

Batting is perhaps Revis’s strongest suit at present; he has scored two Championship hundreds this year - 104 not out against Gloucestershire at Headingley, and 106 against Derbyshire at Scarborough, both from the No 7 position, innings which, in addition to his facility to hit a long ball in the white-ball game, have shown an underlying technical expertise based on sound fundamentals.

Last week, he claimed his maiden five-wicket haul in first-team cricket, taking 5-50 on a flat surface in the drawn fixture against Glamorgan in Cardiff, a battling effort that complemented his increasingly solid batting returns and which should give him increased confidence with ball in hand.

“He’s got two hundreds now and it’s good to see that his batting is starting to take off,” said Gibson.

“I’m really pleased for him because he works really hard at his game.

“He’s constantly asking for a bump up the order, but all the guys ahead of him have also got (Championship) hundreds, apart from James Wharton, who probably could have got a hundred in the first innings against Derbyshire and played really well, but I think his is coming.

“He’s looking more and more accomplished with every innings he plays, and I think his is coming before the end of the season, but it’s nice to see ‘Rev’ put together some real solid innings.”

This winter, Revis will be going to Australia to play for Gold Coast Dolphins in the Queensland Premier League.

Wharton, 22, will also be travelling Down Under to play for Wanneroo in Perth, with Gibson and Darren Gough, the Yorkshire managing director of cricket, keen for players to go out and experience different conditions.