Yorkshire v Warwickshire: Enthusiastic Best is told to show controlled aggression

YORKSHIRE chief Martyn Moxon is urging Tino Best to channel his on-field aggression in a positive way.

Moxon wants the West Indian pace bowler to concentrate on dismissing batsmen rather than trying to instigate verbal exchanges.

Best's exuberance got the better of him during last week's County Championship game against Lancashire at Old Trafford, when he had a go at former Yorkshire batsman Simon Katich among others.

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It followed a number of similar examples of excitable behaviour since Best joined the club at the start of the season.

Moxon does not want to curb Best's natural enthusiasm, which is so much a part-and-parcel of his game.

But as Yorkshire prepared for today's Championship match against Warwickshire at Headingley Carnegie, where they will be looking to extend their lead at the top of the table, he admitted the 28-year-old must keep his cool.

"Tino knows there's a line and that we don't want it to go past that line," said Moxon.

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"He needs to keep things under control, focus on his bowling and not let other stuff interfere with that.

"He is a heart-on-the-sleeve performer and that's one of the things we like about him.

"At the same time, it's important that he does retain that element of control.

"To be honest, I think he's done that for the vast majority of the season.

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"He got a little bit frustrated in the first innings against Lancashire when things weren't going his way, but I think a lot of it is borne out of frustration.

"Sometimes he can get a little bit excited, but I guess you could say that's the nature of the beast.

"He's very much a 100 per cent cricketer and that aggressive attitude is part of his make-up."

Best's frustration is explained by the fact he has yet to shine as the club's overseas player.

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Although he has performed competently in one-day cricket, he has managed only 10 wickets in five Championship matches at 44.00 – comfortably the highest average of the frontline bowlers.

At Old Trafford, Best's line-and-length was generally awry, despite the fact his three wickets at the start of Lancashire's second innings narrowly failed to inspire a last-day victory.

He bowled a high proportion of deliveries down the leg-side and was clearly unhappy with his own performance.

"Tino didn't bowl as well as he can against Lancashire and he's just been falling away at the crease a little bit," added Moxon.

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"His weight is going to the side instead of being right behind the ball, and it's just a technical issue that needs to be sorted.

"We'll try and do some work with him but it's hard when the games come thick and fast.

"Ideally, we'd have a few days to put things right, but the matches are pretty much back-to-back and we're also without Tim Bresnan and Ajmal Shahzad because of England commitments, so we're thin on the ground in terms of pace bowling.

"But Tino is a quality performer and I'm sure he'll be back to his best before too long.

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"I thought there were signs of him getting things back a little bit towards the end of his spell in the Lancashire second innings when he wasn't falling away quite so much."

Although Moxon is right to identify a technical problem, the suspicion remains that what you see is what you get.

One minute effective, the next ineffectual, Best would seem as likely to deliver a match-winning performance as to make little impression.

"Tino opened the door for us with his three quick wickets at Old Trafford and that's what he's capable of," insisted Moxon.

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"What we like about him is that he runs in and bowls fast and that he's always capable of taking wickets.

"As we saw in the second innings against Lancashire, even when he's not bowling at his best he's still capable of taking wickets, which is a great knack to have.

"What he needs now is greater consistency, but I'm sure that will come before too long."

Yorkshire go into today's match looking for their fourth Championship win of the season. They have already beaten Warwickshire at Edgbaston and the Midlands side are on a poor run of form.

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"It's another important match and we probably need to win three or four of our remaining seven games to win the title," added Moxon.

"Notts have got two games in hand on us and, unless those two games are washed out, it's a bit of a false position when you compare us to them.

"But we've still got to play them twice and there's a lot of points at stake between now and the end of the season.

"We played pretty well throughout the four days against Lancashire, and as long as we keep creating chances to win, I'm sure we can get more victories on the board."

MATCH FOCUS

One to watch

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Imran Tahir: The Pakistani leg-spinner needs no introduction to Yorkshire's supporters after his brief spell with the county in 2007.

Tahir played one County Championship game for the club but failed to sparkle, returning

0-141 from 37 overs against Sussex at Hove.

Since then he has proved himself a consistent wicket-taker in the colours of Hampshire and now Warwickshire.

Tahir is the Bears' leading wicket-taker in the Championship with 37 at 23.32.

Warwickshire form

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Not good. One of the pre-season relegation favourites along with Yorkshire, who have exceeded all expectations, Warwickshire have conversely lived up to their Championship billing.

Second-bottom of Division One, they have lost six of their nine games – two more than any other club in the division – and arrive at Headingley on the back of a thumping 219-run defeat against Durham at Chester-le-Street.

Warwickshire's season began poorly when they lost to Yorkshire at Edgbaston.

Since then they have been beaten by Somerset (twice) and Lancashire (twice) before last week's embarrassing thumping at the Emirates Durham International Cricket Ground.

Head to head

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Of the 179 County Championship matches between the sides, Yorkshire have won 79, Warwickshire 30, and 70 games have been drawn.

Last time at Headingley

August 7-10, 2002. Warwickshire 233 (NV Knight 79) and 216 (NV Knight 109, IR Bell 55) drew with Yorkshire 313 (DS Lehmann 75, CR Taylor 50).

Yorkshire squad

Sayers, Lyth, McGrath, Rudolph (capt), Bairstow, Brophy, Rashid, Pyrah, Best, Patterson, Hannon-Dalby, Rafiq, Sanderson.

Weather

The Met Office are predicting good conditions for days one, two and four but the possibility of rain on day three.