Yorkshire lured Rudolph after rival’s failure

Speaking from his hotel room in Zimbabwe, where he is currently on international duty with South Africa A, the 30-year-old told the Yorkshire Post he was looking forward to the challenge of trying to save the county from relegation and even suggested he would be willing to extend his Headingley stay into next season.

Rudolph, who scored 2,463 runs last year, is coming back to help his old friends at Yorkshire after what has been a torrid first half of the campaign.

But he insists the salvage operation is not just a one-man job and that the Yorkshire spirit he grew accustomed to in his four years with the county will have to shine through if they are to preserve their top-flight status.

Rudolph will return for the final six matches of Yorkshire’s County Championship season, starting on July 20 with the Roses match against Lancashire.

He will also play in their remaining six CB40 League games.

It is the first-class format that needs serious attention, with Yorkshire in the relegation zone having played more games than their rivals.

“It’s massively important for Yorkshire to be a Division One county,” said Rudolph, the White Rose’s leading run scorer for the past four years. “Yorkshire is one of the biggest counties in the game, if not the biggest.

“If I can play a small part in them staying up then it would be ideal.

“And if I do come back next year and they’re a Division One team, then all the better.”

Rudolph returns as an overseas player having spent his previous spell at Headingley Carnegie under the Kolpak ruling.

He quit the club at the end of last year for family reasons and to relaunch his international career.

Now he is firmly entrenched in the South Africa A set-up, he is happy to mix international honours with county duty.

And if the situation suits him, and cash-strapped Yorkshire can afford him, he would be happy to make the return more permanent next season.

“I’d like to extend the deal,” said Rudolph. “I will talk to Martyn Moxon when I am over there to discuss the future. There’s a lot of international cricket so I will just see how things work out.

“It’s hard to say yes or no right now but I am open to coming back again next year.”

It was Rudolph who seized the initiative five weeks ago when he rang Moxon to tell him he was ready to end his exile and return.

The county’s director of professional cricket initially stalled in favour of giving his young, home-grown charges the chance to extricate themselves from the mire.

But with results not improving and with a rival county in contact with Rudolph about a return to English cricket, Moxon and Rudolph needed only one phone call last week to seal the deal.

“I took the decision to come home to South Africa last year but I’m not one to sit at home for four or five months,” said Rudolph. “I had an opportunity with another county and I’m very grateful for the offer they gave me. But it was only ever Yorkshire that would tempt me back. I would only ever play for one county.

“I’ve been at Yorkshire before; I know the team, I know the ground, I know the people.

“When this team is down they always find a way to fight back.

“From a character point of view, this is a team that is so strong.

“They can get themselves out of any situation.

“There are six games to go when I come back and I believe we can do it.

“If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out, but I will work, train and play to the best of my ability.

“I hope the players are in good spirits when I arrive because it will make me coming over there that bit easier.

“But the thing is you cannot just rely on one player, or even two players to change fortunes.

“It takes 11 men and fortunately, from my time at the club, that is one of the strengths of Yorkshire.”

Hearteningly for Yorkshire members, and perhaps unsurprisingly, Rudolph is in good nick.

His last two scores of 90 and 98 for South Africa A have helped them into the Coca-Cola Triangular Series final with Australia, due to be played in Harare today.

While he concedes ‘I wish they had been three figures’ he is confident it is only the matter of his match fitness that needs sharpening before he makes his welcome Headingley return.

He said: “I need to get my fitness back, which I will concentrate on doing over the next week.”

Rudolph will be an interested spectator as Yorkshire play their final County Championship game without him at Scarborough next week, when relegation rivals Worcestershire are the visitors.

Before then, they have back-to-back games with Durham Dynamoes in the Twenty20, starting at Chester-le-Street tonight (5.40pm).

Moxon’s men have mustered just four victories from their 13 matches in the competition, and not even wins in each of their three remaining games will guarantee them qualification for the knockout stage of the competition.

They need other results to go their way, but they would help their cause significantly by doing the double over Durham, who are just three points above them in third place.

Durham visit Scarborough on Sunday.