Yorkshire’s Steve Patterson believes the last fortnight could, in time, be viewed as the catalyst for better fortunes ahead at Emerald Headingley.
Captain Patterson is hoping back-to-back defeats by 298 and 433 runs against Somerset and Kent will almost be a rock bottom moment for the current White Rose squad.
The experienced seamer, like all Yorkshire cricket lovers, has been stung by the manner of performances in suffering their third and fourth defeats of the season.
He, like coach Andrew Gale, has called for a response in the final round of the summer against Warwickshire at Edgbaston, starting on Monday (10.30am).
“Sometimes you’ve got to have a realisation like this to move forward,” he said.
“You look at it when we got relegated in 2011, which was a difficult and disappointing year, we came back and went from strength to strength for the next five years and won two Championships.
“All teams go through periods where they lose games of cricket don’t they.
“Nobody wins every game they play.
“Unfortunately we’ve had two poor weeks which make you feel horrendous.
“But, at the same time, we have to take the emotion out of it and say, ‘Why have we had these results – is it because we’ve been unlucky, is it because we’re not as good as we think we are, do we need better options in the team, more to pick from?’
“These are all questions we need to ask to move forward.”
Yorkshire have won five games, lost four and drawn four of their 13 games this season and sit fifth in the table.
Unfortunately, prior to losing at Somerset last week, they had an outside chance of winning the Division One title and at least had a firm grip on third place in the table.
Now they sit fifth, 10 points behind Hampshire in third.
“I don’t think it’s been a horrendous year,” said Patterson, whose side can’t finish any lower than fifth in the table.
“Had we had these two defeats early in the year and come back and won the games we have, everyone would think it’s a fantastic end.
“It’s just a shame it’s come when it has.
“We are moving in the right direction. We know the areas we are strong and know the areas we need to be better.
“We’ll address that over the winter and be stronger for it.
“But, before then, the last thing I want to do is to finish the season with three defeats. That would be crushing. We have to respond and find a way to perform better at Edgbaston.”
Newly promoted Warwickshire, tipped for relegation by many back in April, have secured their top-flight status for another year and are finishing strongly.
They beat Nottinghamshire by eight wickets on Thursday despite conceding a first-innings total of 498 at Trent Bridge, with England hopeful Dom Sibley scoring 215 not out and 109 in the match.
Before that, they dominated a home draw against league leaders Essex and, in June, beat Yorkshire in a thrilling game at Clifton Park in York.
Coach Andrew Gale added: “I think we’ll make a couple of changes.
“We’ll maybe have a look at the batting order because we’ve been rolled out four times now, so we can’t keep going with that.
“There won’t be massive changes, but we want to give opportunity to others.”
13-man squad
Gary Ballance
Harry Brook
Ben Coad
Matthew Fisher
Tom Kohler-Cadmore
Tom Loten
Adam Lyth
Duanne Olivier
Ajaz Patel
Steven Patterson ©
Matthew Revis
Jonny Tattersall (WK)
David Willey
Milestones
Potential batting milestones
- BO Coad needs 13 runs to reach 500 runs in First-class matches
- DP Sibley needs 18 runs to reach 500 runs in First-class matches against Yorkshire
- WMH Rhodes needs 30 runs to reach 2500 runs in First-class matches
- HJH Brookes needs 43 runs to reach 500 runs in First-class matches
- MJ Lamb needs 43 runs to reach 500 runs in First-class matches at Birmingham
- JA Leaning needs 45 runs to reach 3000 runs in First-class matches
- JM Bairstow needs 49 runs to reach 500 runs in First-class matches against Warwickshire
- TR Ambrose needs 52 runs to reach 1000 runs in First-class matches against Yorkshire
- JA Tattersall needs 60 runs to reach 1000 runs in First-class matches
- WMH Rhodes needs 65 runs to reach 1000 runs in First-class matches at Birmingham
- SA Patterson needs 74 runs to reach 500 runs in First-class matches against Warwickshire
- CN Miles needs 80 runs to reach 1500 runs in First-class matches
- OJ Hannon-Dalby needs 113 runs to reach 500 runs in First-class matches
- GS Ballance needs 115 runs to reach 500 runs in First-class matches at Birmingham
- DP Sibley needs 127 runs to reach 4000 runs in First-class matches
- DJ Willey needs 150 runs to reach 2500 runs in First-class matches
Potential bowling milestones
- HJH Brookes needs 1 wickets to reach 50 wickets in First-class matches
- BO Coad needs 5 wickets to reach 150 wickets in First-class matches
- WMH Rhodes needs 10 wickets to reach 50 wickets in First-class matches
- D Olivier needs 10 wickets to reach 450 wickets in First-class matches
