Adam Lyth says a no fear approach proved key to his impressive personal white ball form last year and hopes for more of the same when the Royal London One-Day Cup kicks off on Friday.
The Yorkshire opener hit three fifties in nine 50-over appearances last term, totalling 304 runs.
He also smashed a brilliant 535 runs from 12 T20 Blast outings, including a mesmerising and record-breaking 161 against Northamptonshire at Emerald Headingley.
Unfortunately for the left-hander, his form did not contribute to any silverware for the Vikings.
That, unlike his form, he hopes will be different.
Ahead of Friday’s televised opener against Durham, under lights at Emirates Riverside (2pm), he said: “The white ball stuff has gone really well for me in the last couple of years.
“Hopefully I can kick on from that and put some more big performances in.
“I went out to the crease with no fear, took it on and just reacted to the ball.
“Unfortunately, in the red ball stuff last year, it didn’t really work. But it did against the white.”
Yorkshire’s lack of limited overs silverware recently has been somewhat of a head-scratcher.
They have played some scintillating cricket, only to lose the important games.
In one-day cricket, they were beaten quarter-finals in 2014 – by tomorrow’s opponents Durham – before losing semis the following two years. Last year, they lost the eliminator match against Surrey to reach the semi-finals.
“It’s been frustrating,” said Lyth.
“We seem to get so close yet be so far away.
“Look at the T20s last year, for example. I really thought we should have been at Finals Day with the team we had. But it didn’t work out that way.
“We will miss a few players through England and other commitments. But we have a very good squad. I’m sure this year we can really go far.”
While Yorkshire finished second and qualified for the knockout stages last year, Durham finished fifth and did not.
However, they started the season with a two points deduction due to their recent financial problems.
Add those two points to their tally of seven, coming from four wins and a No Result, and they would have qualified in third place ahead of Nottinghamshire courtesy of a better net run-rate.
Notts went on and won the RL50 and completed the limited overs double.
This fixture is the first of two in three days for Yorkshire.
On Sunday, they host Warwickshire at Emerald Headingley, starting at 11am.
“It’s an important weekend for us given the two games come quickly. If we can win them, it will be a big boost,” added Lyth.
“Hopefully, as well, our white ball stuff can help the red ball when we return to that in a few weeks’ time.
“Durham are always a competitive side. Although I haven’t seen a great deal of them this year, we’ve had some great contests against them down the years.”
