By Graham Hardcastle
Yorkshire’s message in the Royal London One-Day Cup continues to be ‘Why not?’
The Vikings have won five matches on the bounce, including Thursday’s come from behind victory over Essex at Chelmsford, to qualify for Monday’s semi-final against Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl, starting at 11am.
Rather than wallowing in the disappointment of losing a raft of internationals, they are using it as added motivation as they bid to reach a Lord’s final for the first time since 2002 when they beat Somerset to win the C&G Trophy.
That was Yorkshire’s last piece of limited overs silverware.
“Not many teams lose six players in a knockout, play away from home and get over the line,” said coach Andrew Gale, who will only have to deal with five absentees at Hampshire given Che Pujara is an almost certain starter following Test duty with India.
“A lot of squads wouldn’t stand up to that. But that just shows the work we put into our Academy, the hard work that goes in throughout the winter and the lads’ team spirit. They believe they can come in and perform under pressure, and that makes me really proud.
“We’re full of confidence and have nothing to fear going down to Hampshire.
“We’re massive underdogs. We know we’re up against it because they’re a good team on their home patch.
“But we said (at Essex) ‘We just want to be brave and see where it takes us’.
“We’re one game away from a Lord’s final. Why can’t we go down to the Rose Bowl and win – why not?”
