Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Jafer Chohan is confident Yorkshire can turn their Vitality Blast campaign around.
Jafer Chohan is confident both he and Yorkshire can kick on during the second half of the Vitality Blast, which begins for the county at Durham tomorrow evening.
Yorkshire may find themselves behind the eight-ball in the North Group, second from bottom with two wins from their opening seven games. They have significant work to do to reach the quarter-finals, but Chohan has full faith that a turnaround can be achieved.
“I guess there’s that sense of clarity that we’re not holding back at all, we’re going to go in and just give it absolutely everything,” said the county’s leg-spinner.
“That’s one thing you’ll always get from us – until the last ball, we’ll give it absolutely everything.
“We have so much faith in our team.
“If you look at our line-up, there’s absolutely no reason why we can’t go on and win this competition. That’s what we’re going to still try and do.”
Yorkshire head up to the Banks Homes Riverside (6.30pm) knowing their competition has reached a crucial juncture. Whilst it may not be as stark as must win, not many more slip-ups can be afforded. They have to start winning very soon.
Picture by Sarah Reed/Getty Images. Jafer Chohan bowling for Sydney Sixers in January.
The general consensus is that seven wins from 14 games will give you a very good chance of a top-four finish.
If Yorkshire are going to qualify, you feel as though Chohan will be crucial to their hopes.
Here is a bowler who impressed with 17 wickets in 10 matches in last season’s Blast, including hauls of five wickets and four wickets. The former came in a home match against Durham last July.
Since then, the 22-year-old’s has had experience of an England senior white ball tour to the West Indies in November along with being an England Lions tourist.
He also played four matches for Sydney Sixers in the Australian Big Bash competition at the start of the year, including a semi-final, and took three wickets. He returned spells of 2-28 and 1-22 from four overs along the way.
In the first half of the Blast, Chohan has taken seven wickets from as many appearances, including a standout 4-27 in the recent home win over Leicestershire at Headingley.
“It’s been great to have that continuity of opportunities through the winter in different conditions,” he said. “It just helps me develop so much being in those different environments and with so many different people to learn from.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Jonny Bairstow comes up against his former Yorkshire team-mate Alex Lees again tomorrow night, as he did at York on Sunday.
“Now, it’s just making sure I’m applying all those learnings and keep developing on them.
“It’s never about staying stagnant, it’s making sure I keep improving.
“I feel like I can show a lot more for the team and do a lot more, so hopefully in the next half (of the Blast) I can show that.”
He went on: “I think, after a couple of years of the experiences I’ve had, I need to be hitting the ground running a lot more.
“The first couple of years, it’s almost like I was just settling in and there’s not really that expectation or pressure.
“But now, with the experiences I’ve had and the amount of games I’ve played already, I do feel a lot more comfortable and am very confident in my game.
“I just want to have a much bigger impact on the team than maybe I had in previous years.”
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Will O’Rourke plays his final T20 of the season for Yorkshire tomorrow evening.
Yorkshire are aiming for instant revenge against a Durham side who beat them by six wickets chasing 129 at Clifton Park in York on Sunday afternoon.
Durham have enjoyed a good start to this season’s Blast, winning four of their first seven games to sit second in the table.
But they missed the opportunity to close on runaway leaders Northamptonshire last night when beaten by Worcestershire Rapids at New Road, by six wickets as the hosts chased 156 with 2.5 overs remaining.
Yorkshire’s destroyer on Sunday at York, Matthew Potts, the England seamer who returned a career best 5-17, returned figures of 0-39 from two overs in the West Midlands.
