Yorkshire CCC to take time over captaincy decision

Last year, Shan Masood, the Pakistan batsman, was club captain, but he is not expected to return next season. When Masood was called up for international duty, he handed over the reins to Jonny Tattersall, who led the team to County Championship promotion with four wins from six games in charge.

Anthony McGrath, the Yorkshire head coach, said no decisions have yet been made.

“Not as yet. I didn’t want to jump in with that,” he said. “Obviously I know who’s done it in previous years, and I think the decision is going to be into the new year, just before the season.

“We’ve got to work out if we want one captain in both forms and then, if that’s the case, who is guaranteed to play in both forms.”

McGrath’s task and that of the club is complicated by the uncertainty concerning player availability. There is an ongoing dispute between the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) over the participation of domestic players in overseas franchise competitions that clash directly with the English season.

The ECB does not want multi-format players taking part in them - with the notable exception of the Indian Premier League (IPL) - while the PCA believes a compromise is needed, especially with regard to the lucrative (for many county players) Pakistan Super League (PSL), which has moved to the clashing slot of April/May.

“There’s no one off the table is the answer at the moment,” added McGrath of the Yorkshire captaincy situation.

“It’s whether we have one club captain - but then you need that club captain to be around all the time - or whether we split the roles, so, again, we’re just trying to work through all that, work out who’s going to be available, and so on.

“If someone’s in the PSL draft, for example, they could miss seven games of the Championship season because it’s the same time this year as the IPL. There’s a lot of unknowns at this moment in time.”