Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Ben Coad is currently training with his Yorkshire team-mates in Melbourne.
Ben Coad is confident Yorkshire can build on the positivity which came from the way they finished last season as they bid to start 2026 with a bang.
The White Rose new-ball seamer is currently in Melbourne for the next month on a training camp which is led by bowling coach Mick Lewis and integrates more than a dozen men’s players with the Victorian state squad.
Coad, 32, believes that will help get him and his colleagues to hit the ground running for both next month’s pre-season tour of Abu Dhabi and the April 3 start to the new county season.
“This camp, it can only benefit us,” he said.
“Training for longer, training outside and then straight into pre-season, we’ll be close to – or even at – 100 percent by the time we get to Abu Dhabi.
“The new season starts even earlier this year, so hopefully this will help a lot with that.”
Coad contributed 27 wickets in 11 appearances in last season’s Rothesay County Championship and Metro Bank One-Day Cup combined.
Picture by John Clifton/SWPix.com. Ben Coad takes the applause after reaching a brilliant half-century against Essex at York in early July.
The county finished seventh in the Championship with four wins and reached the semi-finals of the Metro Bank One-Day Cup.
Positives came from their excellent second half of the season in those competitions, though there were frustrations following a slow start to the four-day campaign and a disappointing Vitality Blast campaign.
“We had that slow start in the Championship,” continued Coad.
“But it was really pleasing to see the way we fought our way into Division One as the summer went on. Hopefully this year we can start positively and go from there.
“I fully believe in all the boys here. We’ve got a great squad, we’ve made some great signings, and on our day we can compete with anyone.
“It’s just about being consistent. If we can be, then who knows.”
From a personal point of view, Coad was at his best through the middle of the summer, with his standout contribution coming in the Championship win over Essex at York in late June, early July.
Picture by John Clifton/SWPix.com. Ben Coad celebrates the wicket of Lancashire’s Josh Bohannon in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup Roses win over Lancashire at York in August.
In that game, he took two wickets in the first innings and three in the second. With the bat, he contributed a brilliant, career best 89 in the memorable game-changing ninth-wicket stand of 169 with Matthew Revis.
He then didn’t play beyond August 22 due to a hamstring injury.
He added: “To be honest, I felt a bit frustrated with myself at the start of the year – didn’t feel like I was hitting my straps quite as well as I could have.
“Then, through the middle four-dayers and the 50-over comp, I felt like I was getting back to where I wanted to be.
“Then it was just bad timing when the injury struck.
“It was frustrating that I couldn’t help the lads out at the back end. But, thankfully, they didn’t need me and we ended really nicely with that Durham win.”
