Yorkshire’s young bowlers showing they are capable of filling more experienced boots

NO Ben Coad, no Matthew Fisher and no David Willey?
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com - 03/08/2020 - Cricket - Bob Willis Trophy - Durham CCC v Yorkshire CCC, Day 3 - Emirates Riverside, Chester-le-Street, England - Yorkshire’s Jack Shutt bowls.Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com - 03/08/2020 - Cricket - Bob Willis Trophy - Durham CCC v Yorkshire CCC, Day 3 - Emirates Riverside, Chester-le-Street, England - Yorkshire’s Jack Shutt bowls.
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com - 03/08/2020 - Cricket - Bob Willis Trophy - Durham CCC v Yorkshire CCC, Day 3 - Emirates Riverside, Chester-le-Street, England - Yorkshire’s Jack Shutt bowls.

NO Ben Coad, no Matthew Fisher and no David Willey?

No problem.

Yorkshire beat Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge anyway, despite fielding three bowlers with only four first-class appearances between them.

Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com - 29/07/2020 - Cricket - Friendly - Yorkshire CCC v Durham CCC, Day 2 - Emerald Headingley Stadium, Leeds, England - Yorkshire's Jordan Thompson bowls.Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com - 29/07/2020 - Cricket - Friendly - Yorkshire CCC v Durham CCC, Day 2 - Emerald Headingley Stadium, Leeds, England - Yorkshire's Jordan Thompson bowls.
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com - 29/07/2020 - Cricket - Friendly - Yorkshire CCC v Durham CCC, Day 2 - Emerald Headingley Stadium, Leeds, England - Yorkshire's Jordan Thompson bowls.

Take a bow Messrs Jordan Thompson, Jack Shutt and Dominic Leech.

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All played their part in a memorable triumph, Yorkshire’s second in two Bob Willis Trophy matches, which sets them up perfectly for Saturday’s fixture at Emerald Headingley against Derbyshire, the only other side with a 100 per cent record in the North Group.

There will be no Coad and Fisher again, the pair suffering side and abdominal injuries respectively in the opening round victory against Durham and facing, according to head coach Andrew Gale, a four-to-six-week lay-off in normal circumstances but, due to the shortened nature of the season, possibly a return before that stage.

Willey was not picked last week as Yorkshire wanted him to build up his workload after a spell of international white-ball cricket, and he bowled in practice drills at Trent Bridge.

Willey has been named in a 14-man squad for the Derbyshire match along with Thompson, Shutt and Leech plus George Hill, the 19-year-old all-rounder, who has yet to make his first-class debut.

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Whether Hill has been included as an extra body, as it were, remains to be seen, but it has been good to see Yorkshire’s young players come to the fore.

Thompson, the 23-year-old all-rounder, had a fine match at Trent Bridge, scoring 98 and 33 with the bat, returning 1-37 and 3-6 with the ball and pulling off a run-out just for good measure.

Shutt, also 23, struggled to control his off-spin in Nottinghamshire’s first innings when he had figures of 0-49 from eight overs and looked suitably despondent.

It said much for his temperament, therefore, as well as his ability, that he bounced back with 2-14 in the second innings, while Leech, 19, claimed the notable scalp on first-class debut of England opener Haseeb Hameed in both innings.

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Shutt and Leech, the two newest members of the Yorkshire line-up, with Thompson a little further down the line in terms of first-team experience, were also backed by captain Steve Patterson.

Patterson had no hesitation in throwing the new ball to Leech in the second innings at Trent Bridge, despite a relatively low target for the hosts to chase of 188, and he kept faith with Shutt after his first innings travails.

“At the end of the day, when you pick somebody to play, you pick them to do a job, and you’ve got to trust them to do that,” said Patterson.

“With Dominic Leech, I wanted to put that trust in him and that belief in him, and he repaid us with a nice early wicket.

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“He’s 19 years old and has played only a handful of second team games, so to come into the first team and bowl the way he did was a really positive sign,” he added.

“He challenged some good players – he didn’t just tie an end up or anything like that – and beat the bat numerous times.”

On Shutt, Patterson added: “Again, we picked him for a reason.

“We picked him because we feel he’s the best spinner at the club at the moment, and you’ve got to back him to do a job.

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“There were possibly a few nerves there in the first innings and he perhaps tried a bit too hard.

“It’s always difficult for a young spinner anyway; he was only playing his second game and he didn’t bowl a huge amount of overs up in Durham as it turned out, but he came back really well against Notts and finished the game off for us in impressive fashion.”

In Thompson, Yorkshire looked to have unearthed a player of considerable promise.

“The one thing I know about Tommo is that he’s a fighter,” said Patterson.

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“You put him in a situation and he finds a way to have an impact.

“He’s a three-dimensional cricketer and can offer something in every discipline,” he said.

“I’m absolutely delighted with his progress and hope to see more of it.”

Yorkshire squad versus Derbyshire (from): Bairstow, Brook, Hill, Kohler-Cadmore, Leech, Lyth, Malan, Olivier, Patterson (captain), Shutt, Tattersall, Thompson, Warner, Willey.

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