Yorkshire CCC v Lancashire – Vikings happy with their T20 options after Nicholas Pooran’s exit

The West Indian batsman/wicketkeeper plays his final game at Northamptonshire on Sunday.

Pooran makes his penultimate appearance against Lancashire at Emerald Headingley on Thursday night.

It will be the 23-year-old’s only appearance in front of the Yorkshire crowd, following last Friday’s rained-off home game with Nottinghamshire and the subsequent trips to Derbyshire and Leicestershire.

Yorkshire still have nine group games after Sunday’s contest, but first-team coach Andrew Gale revealed: “There are no plans to get another overseas player at this moment in time.

“It’s not something that we’ve looked into.

“We’ve got Pooran for another two games, and we’ve got “Tatts” (Jonny Tattersall) who can do a great job with the bat and gloves as well. There’s no plan to bring in anyone else.”

Pooran proved why Yorkshire were so keen to sign him in the first place with a brutal half-century in Tuesday’s 54-run win at Leicestershire.

The left-hander smashed 67 from 28 balls with six sixes and six fours out of a total of 255-2, the second-highest T20 score made in England behind Yorkshire’s own 260-4 against Northamptonshire at Headingley two years ago.

Pooran, who could only sign a short-term contract as he is part of West Indies’ squad for white-ball matches against India next month, scored 12 on his first appearance in a Yorkshire shirt against Derbyshire at Chesterfield on Saturday, pulling his first delivery for six.

He batted at No 7 at Chesterfield and at No 3 at Grace Road, with Gale explaining the tactical thinking.

“We want to use Nicholas in the last 10 overs of the innings,” he said. “That’s where he is at his best. It just so happened at Chesterfield that he was coming in at No 7 because we’d lost more wickets than we would have wanted at that stage.

“We didn’t give him the platform and the licence to go out there and play his shots. If we’re only one wicket down with 10 overs left, as we were at Leicester, then he’ll come in at No 3, so we’ve got a bit of flexibility there with our middle order.

“At Leicester, the situation was perfect for him after an excellent opening partnership between Adam Lyth and Tom Kohler-Cadmore. Nicholas gave himself a few balls to have a look and then he went hard and hit some pretty big bombs.

“It was good to see him get a score and show us what he can do.”

Gale was thrilled with the batting fireworks at Grace Road, where Kohler-Cadmore struck 96 not out from 54 balls with eight sixes and four fours and Lyth smashed 69 from 35 deliveries with four sixes and eight fours, the pair sharing an opening partnership of 116 in 10.1 overs.

After Lyth’s dismissal, Kohler-Cadmore and Pooran then flayed 121 for the second wicket in 8.1 overs on a night when Yorkshire displayed the type of power that they hope can carry them all the way to their first T20 title.

“It was a clinical performance and will give us a lot of confidence for the Lancashire game,” said Gale. “The two lads up front performed their roles to perfection; Lythy came out the blocks, Tom took his time, got in and then accelerated, and then Nicholas did his stuff.

“With the ball, Dave Willey was outstanding up front and at the end; he got his yorkers in really well on an absolute belting pitch. We were a little bit sloppy in the field at times and can be better in that respect, but, all in all, it was a good result.

“We actually felt that we played quite well on Saturday without managing to get ourselves over the line. Chesterfield is a bit of a bogey ground for us, so we wanted to go to Leicester and prove a point and get that confidence in our game-plans, and we did that. Now we go into the Roses game full of confidence and on a high.”

Lancashire have won their only completed match so far following an opening night washout at Grace Road.

The Red Rose beat Durham by 72 runs at Old Trafford on Sunday, with former Yorkshire batsman Glenn Maxwell scoring a half-century.

“It’s a big game for us,” said Gale. “It’s not quite a must-win at this stage of the comp, but you want to beat Lancashire on your own patch in front of a full house.

“It’s always the game you want to play in, so the lads are excited about it. Lancashire are a good side. They’ve played some good white-ball cricket already this year.

“They had a bad start in the 50-over comp but ended up getting to the semi-finals, so we’ll have to be right on our game to get one over on them.”

Jack Shutt, the 22-year-old off-spinner, keeps his place in an unchanged 13-man squad.

Yorkshire (from): Ballance, Bess, Bresnan, Brook, Kohler-Cadmore (captain), Lyth, Olivier, Pillans, Pooran, Shutt, Tattersall, Thompson, Willey.