Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. James Wharton in action during last year’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup.
Yorkshire have their eyes on the prize ahead of the Metro Bank One-Day Cup.
The current crop of players are aiming to end the county’s long wait for a limited overs trophy. The last the White Rose county won was in 2002, the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy.
A team captained by Richard Blakey beat Somerset in the final, with the likes of Craig White, Michael Vaughan, Chris Silverwood and Ryan Sidebottom involved.
Another name which jumps out at you from the scorecard is Anthony McGrath.
This time, McGrath will coach a team captained by Bess and include the likes of George Hill, Harry Duke, Matt Milnes, Will Luxton and Matt Revis.
Top order batter James Wharton is another.
The 24-year-old is having an impressive season. In fact, in Yorkshire’s opening Group B fixture, against Warwickshire at Scarborough tomorrow – 11am, he is likely to reach 1,000 runs for the summer across all competitions.
Picture by Ben Duffy/SWPix.com. Current White Rose men’s head coach Anthony McGrath celebrates with C&G Trophy the county won in 2002, beating Somerset at Lord’s in the final.
Having scored 660 in the Rothesay County Championship and 337 in the Vitality Blast, he is only three away from that mark.
“We’ve got a very strong team going into this,” said Wharton.
“We have a very good bowling attack, and the batting there’s going to be some very unhappy people I reckon, which is obviously a good thing. You want a strong unit.
“It’s not going to just take 11 lads, it’s going to take the whole squad to win that competition.
“It’s something we really have our eyes on. We want to stamp our authority on that competition.
“We’ve had some good performances in the last few games in the red-ball stuff.
“We’re very confident. Hopefully we can take that into the 50-over stuff.
Picture by Simon Wilkinson/SWPix.com. Dom Bess will captain Yorkshire for the duration of this 50-over competition.
“We always look forward to this as a squad. It’s a great comp and a really exciting month.
“This is the only month we play 50-over cricket, and we’re all buzzing for it.”
This will be Wharton’s third year of Metro Bank action having debuted in 2023. He has, to date, scored three fifties in 12 matches.
Despite his inexperience, however, he will be a linchpin member of a batting line-up which is set to include Adam Lyth, Imam-Ul-Haq, Will Luxton and George Hill.
“It’s for all of us to show what we can do,” said Wharton. “Score a load of runs and take a load of wickets and really dominate.
“You look around and a good few teams have lost more players than us.
“We’re quite lucky that we’ll have the likes of Lythy, Imam and various others, Jack White, George Hill, Bessy. And I’m missing a few. We should have a great team.”
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Pakistan batter Imam-Ul-Haq will be Yorkshire’s overseas player in this competition. He has nine ODI hundreds to his name and 10 in all List A cricket.
Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Jafer Chohan, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root and Jordan Thompson will all be involved in the Hundred.
That could change in the coming days and weeks should player availability become a problem for the likes of the Northern Superchargers et al. For now, though, coach McGrath has plenty of options at his disposal.
“There’s been a lot spoken about this comp with the Hundred and it being devalued,” he added.
“But I’ve enjoyed the last few years coaching it. I think there’s been some really good cricket.
“We didn’t perform at our best (in the Blast). It’s another chance for individuals and, as a team, for us to do that.”
Yorkshire and Warwickshire were in the same group last year, Group B.
The White Rose finished sixth of nine teams, winning four and losing four of their eight games. One of those wins came against the Bears at Rugby School.
Picture by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images. All-rounder Ed Barnard does it all for the Bears in 50-over cricket, captaining, batting, bowling and fielding.
They finished third and went on to reach the semi-finals, winning six and losing two. They won their first knockout tie against Worcestershire but then lost to eventual champions Glamorgan.
All-rounder Ed Barnard is their captain and was their leading run-scorer and wicket-taker last season with 433 and 16 respectively.
