“Every game’s important, and we had to make sure we won today. This is when the table shapes up, so I’m really pleased with the performance.”
Shan Masood was a happy captain as he discussed Yorkshire’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup win over Sussex in front of almost 3,500 spectators at York today.
The Vikings won an enthralling contest – one for the cricket purists – by 49 runs on an excellent Clifton Park surface, one which rewarded both good batting and good bowling.
They were bowled out for 261 and limited the visitors to 212 all out, sealing win number two of three in the early stages of their Group B campaign.
Masood, the Pakistan Test captain, was one of a number of key contributors with 63 off 79 balls from number three. He hit three fours and a six.
“I’ve never taken this many singles in my life,” he smiled.
“I scored my first boundary after 30, and my first two were against spin.
“The only time I got the seamer away was when I top-edged over the wicketkeeper’s head for four.
“I felt it was tricky. You had to be clever while batting out there. You couldn’t hit through the lines, so taking singles and keeping wickets in hand was important.
“The way we’ve bowled in this competition so far has been brilliant.
“That’s been led by Ben Coad, but the spinners have been so good.”
Assessing the start to the campaign, he continued: “If I’m being honest, we’ve played three games, six innings, and I think in five we’ve done really well.
“The only slip-up was the second innings at Notts.
“The fielding has been top-notch, and the bowling has been really good.
“The only thing we can be overly critical if we want perfection was letting Notts get away from 50-5.
“Five out of the six times, the team’s done really well.
“The results are 2-1, but it could have been 3-0.”
Still, as happy as Masood was with today’s performance and is with the county’s position in the group, he still sees room for improvement in the remaining five games as Yorkshire chase a top-three finish for knockout qualification.
After all, the left-hander is a perfectionist.
“I felt that after doing a lot of the hard work, there were little decisions that we can improve on as a side,” he said.
“The first one was James Wharton’s, the last ball before the water break. It was probably Ibrahim’s last ball of his spell. He’d bowled really well, so it was important that he took a single and played the ball normally. But they got a wicket there. I got run out at the wrong time.
“Maybe even Revis trying to go aerially to the long side.
“Those are the things we can improve as a batting side, but there were a lot of positives.
“And I did tell Finlay Bean in the last game at Notts – the way he played, there was intent. He committed to the front and back foot.
“Even today, he got us off to a start with his 37 runs coming in the first nine overs.
“How Dukey and Bessy finished was clever. They never went berserk. They ran hard and picked up the odd boundary.
“Maybe had one of them stayed there, we could have got 270. But my message was that 260 was good and 270 and over would be really good.”
So, heading into the business end of the competition, starting with Gloucestershire here on Friday, Masood added of Yorkshire’s chances of success: “I’m 100 percent confident.
“We have three home games to come – one more here and two at Scarborough – and winning them are important.”
Meanwhile, Masood has revealed that he will depart for Pakistan Test duty after next Thursday’s clash with Leicestershire at Scarborough, meaning he plays three more group games.
Masood would then miss any potential quarter and semi-final because of a two Test series against Bangladesh between August 21 and September 4, plus Yorkshire’s two Championship matches against Sussex at Scarborough and Middlesex at Headingley in late August and early September.
