Yorkshire v Sussex: Survival will not be enough to satisfy Moxon

Director of professional cricket Moxon spoke ahead of today’s crunch game against Sussex at Scarborough, where second-bottom Yorkshire take on a side two places above them.

A Yorkshire win could catapult Moxon’s men out of the relegation zone and drag Sussex – coached by former Yorkshire pace bowler Mark Robinson – into further difficulty.

And with fixtures to follow against Warwickshire at home and away, plus Somerset at home before the season concludes, Moxon believes there is still time for Yorkshire to rise to within one spot of the third-placed finish they achieved last summer.

To realise that objective, Yorkshire would have to bridge a 70-point gap between themselves and fourth-placed Warwickshire, who have a game in hand.

However, Moxon is adamant his players must aim as high as possible as they look to end the season with a flourish.

“If we play well in our last few games, we can still finish fourth or fifth in the league,” he maintained.

“And, if we do that, we’ll end up wondering what all the fuss was about. Similarly, if we don’t have a good four games, we could find ourselves in Division Two.

“That’s the fine margin we’re talking about.”

Although Moxon has his sights on four straight wins, which could indeed propel Yorkshire into the upper reaches given they have to play Warwickshire twice, he would almost certainly bite off the hand of anyone who could simply guarantee First Division survival.

The former Yorkshire and England opening batsman concedes his team probably need at least two more wins to be sure of preserving their top-flight status.

As such, it would appear desirable – if not imperative – that one of those was against a Sussex side, who could, theoretically, end up filling one of the bottom two slots.

And with a tough trip to Edgbaston on the horizon, allied to the home game against Somerset when the weather could be capricious, it would seem similarly advantageous if the second of those victories came against Warwickshire at Headingley Carnegie in the game beginning next Tuesday.

“I think we need to win a couple of the last four games to be sure of staying up,” said Moxon.

“Hopefully, we can win all four, but I think it’s fair to say we’ll need to win at least two of them.

“In a situation like this, all you can do is worry about your own performance.

“We talk a lot in the dressing room about processes and not looking too far ahead, and that’s very important now.

“It’s a cliché, but we really do have to take it ball by ball, hour by hour, day by day.

“If you start to look several games in advance, you end up losing focus on the here and now.

“For me, that ability to focus on the little things has been what the England team have done so well lately.

“They played boring cricket, if you like, in their last match against India but they got themselves into an invincible position.

“They were able to capitalise on laying a solid platform with the bat, and I think we can all learn from how they have gone about their work.”

Although Yorkshire have struggled this year, they still have every chance of getting out of danger.

The loss of club captain Andrew Gale is an obvious blow – Jacques Rudolph leads the side – the left-hander having been ruled out for the rest of the season after breaking his right forearm, but there is still enough talent to see the job through.

Yorkshire batted well in their last game against Hampshire at the Rose Bowl and although their bowling and fielding was not at its best on the south coast, there is reason for confidence – if obviously not complacency.

“I don’t think we’ve played badly all season,” insisted Moxon.

“We haven’t been outplayed very often; it’s just that old story about bad periods of play costing us games. I’m confident that if we can put in a complete performance we can beat anybody.

“But we have to put in a complete performance; it’s no good playing well for three-quarters of games.”

This week’s Championship match is the centrepiece of the 125th Welcome to Yorkshire Scarborough Festival, which concludes on Sunday with a CB40 game against Sussex.

“It promises to be a great week and there’s always a cracking atmosphere at Scarborough,” added Moxon. “The lads like playing there and it’s the sort of place that gives you a lift.

“The pitch always provides a natural balance between bat and ball and makes for some really interesting cricket.

“If you bowl well at Scarborough you’re always in the game, but you can also get runs on that pitch as well.”