David Wiese is hoping a run of five Vitality Blast games in the next 10 days will be good for Yorkshire as the county bid to kick-start their summer.

The new overseas all-rounder debuted in last night’s narrow defeat to Worcestershire at New Road, when seamer Adam Finch crashed three sixes and a two as the hosts successfully achieved 19 off the last to chase down a target of 176 and win by two wickets.

It left the Vikings, still looking for a first win of any sort in 2023, with two defeats from two at the start of the Blast’s North Group. 

But there is no time to dwell on the Rapids defeat or lick wounds given Wiese and his new team-mates are back in action as quickly as 11.30am tomorrow when Durham visit Headingley as the first part of a T20 double header with the Northern Diamonds.

And after that, matches come thick and fast. It’s Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge on Tuesday, Lancashire at Headingley on Thursday, Derbyshire at Headingley on Sunday and Leicestershire at Grace Road the following Tuesday.

“As much as they say that winning is a habit, losing is also a habit,” said the 38-year-old, a veteran of 331 career T20 appearances, including international representation for both South Africa and Namibia.

“All we need to do is get that one win under our belt and that confidence and belief will come back. Had we come out on the right side at Worcester, all of a sudden the mood would have been different. 

“There are still a lot of games left in the tournament. It’s a quick turnaround to the next game, so there’s not too much time to dwell on it. Come Durham, we’ll go hard, hopefully get that win on the board and go from there.

“If you’re winning, you can carry on that momentum when the games come quickly. If you’re losing, it doesn’t allow you to dwell on it for too long. 

“We have four or five games in the next week or so. If we can get the first win, we can go bang, bang and all of a sudden the campaign’s kick-started from there.”

Wiese was the pick of Yorkshire’s bowlers at New Road, returning 3-18 from four overs of skilful seam. He had earlier hit 15 with the bat. 

He arrived at Headingley at the start of the week from Indian Premier League duty with Kolkata Knight Riders, where he only played three games during the near two-month competition.

“It’s been a busy time, but it’s been quiet as well,” he smiled.  

“It’s been busy in that I’ve been a way from home for a while, but in the last three weeks of the IPL I didn’t play a game. I got to rest and refresh a bit and got that hunger back to play again.

“Towards the end of the IPL, I put all of my focus on training and getting ready for the Blast. 

“I used the end of it as a pre-season camp almost because I knew I wasn’t going to play anymore games. 

“I even took a week off towards the end of it. That was the last week of the IPL.

“I just chilled and spent time with my family, who were out there. I still went to training, but I just hit some balls and didn’t bowl at all. I didn’t want to come over here to Yorkshire feeling any sort of fatigue. I wanted to let the body and mind refresh before getting back to work again.

“It was a good thing to do because I am feeling refreshed and raring to go.”

Wiese has been there, done it and bought the T-shirt in T20 cricket especially. 

In fact, revealed Shan Masood last week, that T-shirt should be imprinted with a complimentary nickname on it, the Guru. 

“That comes from the Pakistan Super League,” explained Wiese. “It’s a nickname that I’ve developed over the years being with the Lahore Qalandars.

“It’s something that’s stuck me with. It’s means more along the lines of mentor and teacher, but Guru adds a bit of extra pressure doesn’t it! 

“It’s all complimentary, and if that’s how they see me then I’m happy to impart as much knowledge as possible.”

That’s certainly what Ottis Gibson is hoping his new recruit will do with the youngsters in his squad, with all-rounders such as Matthew Fisher, George Hill, Ben Mike, Matthew Revis and even Jordan Thompson still developing their games. 

Wiese spent time with a couple of those in January whilst playing in the ILT20 competition out in the UAE, where he was representing the Gulf Giants. Revis and Hill both went out to train alongside Gibson, who was there as the franchise’s assistant coach. 

“Our bowling attack is a young but skilful one,” said Wiese. “The guys are eager to learn. As soon as I came in this week, they were chatting to me a lot. 

“Even the guys who were out with the Gulf Giants, I was chatting to them a bit there. They wanted to learn the whole time.

“Helping the young guys out is almost as important as contributing on the park.”

Masood has also said he will be leaning on Wiese a lot over the next couple of weeks: “Shan is a fantastic player and captain, so I don’t think he’ll need my help too much,” he added. “But I’m there when needed.”

Durham, meanwhile, who have signed overseas duo Wayne Parnell and Ashton Turner, won their opening Blast match last night by 10 wickets against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road as they chased 138. 

Leg-spinner Nathan Sowter claimed 5-15 before opener Graham Clark hit 102 not out off 49 balls.

The Diamonds face Sunrisers at Headingley (3.30pm) tomorrow in the Charlotte Edwards Cup.

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