Andrew Gale is hoping Yorkshire will in time be able to reflect on their disappointing opening round performance against Glamorgan as a beneficial experience.
Yorkshire were a long way below par – with both bat and ball – in the curtain raising LV= Insurance County Championship Group Three fixture at Emerald Headingley, which finished in a draw on Sunday.
They were nowhere near the standards expected of a side tipped by many to challenge for four-day silverware in 2021.
But an opportunity to rectify that comes quickly in the form of a trip to face Kent at Canterbury’s Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, starting on Thursday morning (11am).
England Test captain Joe Root will be available once more, but Gary Ballance has not yet fully recovered from concussion.
David Willey is also likely to come into the side as one of the inclusions following injuries to seamers Ben Coad and Matthew Fisher.
Gale said: “Nothing is won in the first game of the season, and that might just be a bit of a kick up the backside for the lads. Not that they should need it.
“We’ve got to perform better than we did against Glamorgan, that’s for sure, if we’re going to compete with the likes of Lancs and Kent in this group, both who are really good teams.
“For the line-up we had out against Glamorgan, we performed poorly. And it’s disappointing.
“You saw how well the lads batted in pre-season, and we were a shadow of that in the first innings. Yes, you have to give Glamorgan credit, they bowled well. But it was a good pitch for batting on.”
Kent, who will include England Test batsman Zak Crawley and former Yorkshire two-time Championship winner Jack Leaning, started the season with a high-scoring draw away at Northampton last week.
In 2019, Yorkshire won at Canterbury before Kent turned the tables at Headingley on the back of a double century and 10 wickets in the match for Darren Stevens.
Last week, Stevens, who turns 45 later this month, became the oldest player to score a century in the Championship since 1986.
