Yorkshire’s title hopes hinge on Headingley win

The county’s director of cricket said they probably need to beat the leaders to maintain their hopes of winning the title.

Yorkshire go into the game at Headingley Carnegie, which starts this morning, in third place with 120 points from 12 matches.

Derbyshire have 146 points from 11 fixtures having confounded forecasts of a challenging season.

“It’s difficult to make predictions with the weather being so bad but this game could well decide the title,” said Moxon.

“If Derbyshire win then they’ve got one hand on the league, I think you’d have to say that.

“And, for us to win the title, we probably need to win this match.

“It’s certainly going to be a massive game and it’s got all the makings of a potential decider.”

The Yorkshire hierarchy has identified three wins from the last four matches as necessary to guarantee an immediate return to Division One.

After this week’s game, Yorkshire take on Gloucestershire at Scarborough (August 28-31), 
Glamorgan at Headingley (September 4-7) and Essex at Chelmsford (September 11-14).

The size of their task is highlighted by the fact they have won only two Championship games all season, with the other 10 matches finishing as draws.

But Moxon insists that if the weather plays ball, the players have got what it takes to get the job done.

“We keep harping on about the weather but we need a few dry days to help us now,” he said.

“We can’t win anything unless we can get on the field for a sufficient amount of time.

“The important thing is that our destiny is still in our own hands and it’s up to us to perform in these last four games.

“We probably need to win three of them to be sure of promotion, and, although it’s a tall order, we’re well capable of doing it.”

Moxon’s optimism was echoed by Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale, who feels his side have given themselves “a hell of a chance”.

Yorkshire go into the final month of the campaign fighting not only for promotion but also for their first domestic trophy for 10 years having reached Twenty20 Finals Day in Cardiff on Saturday week.

“To be in with a chance of winning trophies going into the last month of the season is exactly where you’d want to be,” said Gale.

“It’s going to be a massive month for us and it’s all to play for.

“In terms of the Championship, I’d have bitten your hand off if you’d said that we’d be where we are now, particularly with the weather we’ve had.

“If we’d had good weather, I think we’d have won a couple more games at least.”

One such victory may well have come at Chesterfield last month, where Yorkshire had the better of the Championship match against this week’s opponents.

After scoring 219, Yorkshire reduced Derbyshire to 135-7 before rain washed out the last three days.

Gale conceded he had been slightly surprised by how well Derbyshire have done but paid tribute to their efforts throughout the summer.

“I looked at the squad before the season and although they’ve got some good performers, they are not what you’d call a team of stars, so all credit to them,” he said.

“They’ve got a good team spirit going and that’s probably carried them along this year.

“Some of the younger lads who have come in, the likes of Redfern and people like that, have done really well.

“They will certainly provide us with another big challenge.”

Yorkshire are without England’s Jonny Bairstow so hand a debut to Andrew Hodd, a 28-year-old wicketkeeper from Sussex who has signed on loan until the end of the season.

Hodd has been recruited to cover for Bairstow in Championship cricket following the retirement on Monday of Gerard Brophy, with 22-year-old gloveman Dan Hodgson set to continue behind the stumps in CB40 games.

Yorkshire are also without Joe Root from their last Championship outing as he is on England Lions duty against Australia A, but they welcome back left-arm pace bowler Ryan Sidebottom, who returned to CB40 duty on Sunday following a calf injury.

Yorkshire’s side could again include two spinners in Adil Rashid and Azeem Rafiq, with Rashid having looked back to something like his best in recent weeks.

The leg-spinner has responded well following a difficult few months to return a five-wicket haul in the last Championship game at Northampton, followed by career-best List A figures of 4-38 on the same ground and then another three-wicket bag against Unicorns on Sunday.

“Adil has bowled beautifully,” said Moxon.

“The five-wicket haul he picked up at Northampton has given him a lot of confidence and hopefully he can continue that form.

“I think the improvements are just down to the confidence that comes from bowling overs.

“Adil is very much a confidence cricketer – someone who has the ability to get on a roll when he’s on top of his game.”

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It’s great to be back, says Sidebottom: Page 23.