Anthony McGrath has revealed that England stars Harry Brook and Joe Root will be available to Yorkshire for one match in the Rothesay County Championship prior to the start of the home international summer.
County coach McGrath was speaking after the White Rose’s record-breaking 504-run win over Worcestershire at Headingley this evening, inside three days.
It was Yorkshire’s first win of 2025 and the largest victory by margin of runs ever recorded in the history of this competition.
When undertaking his post-match media duties, a delighted McGrath was asked about the availability of the two superstar batters prior to England’s first Test against Zimbabwe in late May.
He said: “As it stands, I think they’re only going to be available for one game, which is the Warwickshire game (May 2, Headingley).
“Joe’s still away on holiday, Harry was in last week. I believe that’s all they’re going to play. I don’t think that’s going to change, but as we know it could do.
“That was a conversation with Luke Wright (England’s lead selector) I had.
“They’re centrally contracted, that’s the directive from ECB.
“Any time we have them is a bonus.
“You know how passionate both Harry and Joe are to play, and it will be brilliant to have them. Hopefully they can contribute like the boys have done this week.”
There were many contributors – almost too many to mention – to a victory which saw Yorkshire claim 24 points thanks to a landslide defence of a 610 target set shortly after lunch today.
George Hill led the way as Worcestershire were bowled out for 105, claiming 4-23, while Jack White impressed with two wickets in each innings, Dawid Malan with scores of 98 and 76 not out and Jordan Thompson with 70 in the first innings and five wickets in the match.
And, of course, Dom Bess.
What a day he had today, with a nightwatchman’s 107 in the second innings representing his first Championship century. He also took two catches in the second innings, including a stunner at cover.
McGrath continued: “I said at the end of the Hampshire game, there were a lot of positives, even though we’d lost.
“I set the challenge this week in training, ‘Don’t let the outcome of that result affect us’, and it hasn’t.
“We would have bowled as well. Obviously, we left more grass on the pitch than I believe we’ve done before here, and I think the pitch was a really good one.
“I think we dominated the game from ball one, and it was a very, very comprehensive victory in the end. Pretty much everyone put their hand up at some point.
“It was a great, great team performance.”
And on Bess’s contribution, he said: “I’m really pleased for Dom. He’s a fantastic cricketer.
“We’ve tried to give him as much encouragement this pre-season as we can because he’s a genuine all-rounder. He balances a team.
“He’s very talented with the ball, but you’ve seen today what a batsman he can be. And that catch in the field as well. Something like that, out of nowhere, you then saw the effect after that. He’s a modern-day cricketer in terms of he can do anything.”
Having started with availability news, we will also finish with it.
New Zealand overseas fast bowler Ben Sears arrived at Headingley this weekend and warmed up with his team-mates this morning.
McGrath added: “Yeah, he’s fit to play at Durham (on Friday).
“He’ll have a bowl tomorrow.
“Matt Revis, hopefully, is going to be close for that game as well, having come through the second-team game, so it’ll be good to add them to the squad, which again gives us another point of difference.
“Ben’s got genuine pace, and obviously we know about Rev’s credentials.
“We managed to get an extra day off, so that helps with the bowlers as well. So yeah, we can add a couple more to the squad, and it’s going to be difficult picking a team!”
