Ottis Gibson has highlighted more control as the next step in the development of Yorkshire’s bowling attack as the county bid to progress from their mid-table position in the LV= Insurance County Championship.
Coach Gibson says he is encouraged by the progression of seamers such as Matthew Revis, Jordan Thompson and Matthew Waite, who were the fulcrum of the bowling attack during last week’s draw against Somerset at Taunton.
Thompson has been Yorkshire’s leading four-day wicket-taker in each of the last two seasons and is again in 2022 with 31 in nine appearances.
But, at the age of 25, the seam bowling all-rounder can still get better – an exciting prospect for him and all connected with the county.
Revis, 20, has played six Championship matches in his breakthrough season, claiming 13 wickets.
And Waite, 26, has put some injury frustrations behind him to play the last three Championship fixtures. He impressed with 3-64 from 28 overs in the first innings at Taunton.
Gibson has been speaking ahead of Yorkshire’s 10th round Championship fixture against Hampshire at Scarborough, starting on Monday at 11am.
Yorkshire go into the Festival clash fifth in Division One, 74 points behind leaders Surrey having played nine times to their 10.
The county’s title race maybe run for this year, but that will be the aim in 2023 and that journey starts now.
“You can’t control the scoring rate as a group if you can’t control length,” said the former West Indies quick.
“The message is always, ‘Be as aggressive as you want to be, but you have to be able to hold length’. Sometimes we let ourselves down in that regard and don’t hold length long enough.
“In the first innings at Taunton, they scored at four or four-and-a-half an over.
“Even though there was a short boundary, we could have still controlled length better. Our boundary count was very high.
“There are simple things I talk about to the bowlers. ‘If you bowl five dot balls in an over, the last one becomes a money ball, let’s not go for a boundary’. They are little things.
“The dressing room is a learning environment, and there are a lot of conversations going on.
“We have to apply learnings from every game. Last time at Scarborough, Surrey needed four an over. The game got close, but could we have bowled better? I think we could have done and made it harder for them.
“Guys are developing nicely, and I’m happy with the way their games are going. But now I want to see them apply those learnings, and that will make us a better team going forwards.
“We signed Haris Rauf at the start of the season, and he had express pace. It was something different we don’t have in our squad. But if you’re not rapid, you have to be accurate.
“All our guys can swing it, they’re very skilful. But I would just like to see a bit more accuracy.”
If Gibson can ask a bit more from those aforementioned, he can’t ask any more from them in terms of commitment to the cause.
They have stood up impressively for a group shorn of seam bowling bodies through injury.
While captain Steve Patterson, who missed Somerset with a hamstring niggle, is set to return at Taunton – and Ben Coad is closing in on a return himself, Matthew Fisher and Dom Leech are both long-term absentees.
“Tommo has put in for us – he’s played almost every game,” said Gibson. “Rev as a young boy has gone from not playing much cricket last year to playing almost every game this.”
“The guys are not machines, and the county season is long and gruelling. You have to give the lads credit for sticking at it and coming back game after game.
“There’s no respite. We finished a game on Friday and start again on Monday. But this is what we signed up for, and we’ll keep doing it.”
Yorkshire (113 points) can still have a huge say in the destination of this season’s title given they play each of the top four teams – Surrey, Hampshire, Lancashire and Essex – in their remaining five fixtures.
Hampshire are second on 173 points from 10 games, 14 points behind Surrey. They have won seven times, including beating Yorkshire by two wickets when chasing 197 on the final day at the Ageas Bowl last month.
James Vince’s side beat Gloucestershire by six wickets at Cheltenham last week, South African overseas seamer Kyle Abbott taking a final day hat-trick along the way.
