Stand-in captain Jonny Tattersall has called for a repeat of the performance against Worcestershire last week as Yorkshire bid for LV= Insurance County Championship win number two when Sussex visit Headingley this week.
The unbeaten Hove county head north for a Wednesday start (11am).
They sit third in the Division Two table on 106 points with eight draws and a win from nine games, only two points behind second-placed Leicestershire in the race for promotion.
Yorkshire are sixth, 26 points behind this week’s opponents, with one win from eight games.
Their latest bid for victory fell short against Worcestershire at New Road last week, thwarted by the weather as much as late home resistance with the bat.
A total of 134 overs were lost because of rain and bad light from a fixture which saw Yorkshire post 407 all out in the first innings before making the hosts follow-on 165 runs behind. Worcestershire finished on a sturdy 142-2 second time around.
“It was frustrating in terms of the weather, but there was nothing in the performance to be frustrated about,” said Tattersall. “I thought we were excellent.
“We did all we could bar getting the extra batting point that we just missed out on. We tried everything. To be able to be in a position to push for a win was an unbelievable effort.”
A key moment came in the first innings, during the second half of day three, when Worcestershire’s 10th-wicket pair Ben Gibbon and Adam Finch shared 63 inside 36 overs to advance from 179-9 to 242 all out.
“We put the ball in good areas and just didn’t find the edge,” continued wicketkeeper-batter Tattersall. “It was almost as if we were too good.
“We tried different things – short balls and setting the field back. But that didn’t work. They were up to that challenge. We threw everything at them.”
Fin Bean with 135 in the first innings alongside fellow opener Adam Lyth’s 79 stood out, as did Ben Coad for his 5-33 first time around. Tattersall praised all three.
He also praised Matthew Fisher’s contribution. He claimed 2-73 from 21 overs in the first innings and 0-41 from 11 in the second innings.
“Fish bowled magnificently,” he said. “He probably didn’t get the wickets he deserved. It was probably amongst the best that we’ve seen him bowl.
“And the longevity of him doing it as well. We were out there across three days, granted there were rain breaks and stuff. I hope he gets a lot of confidence from that.
“Hopefully we can push on and get the 20 wickets we deserved to get at Worcester.”
With six games to go, Yorkshire have work to do to finish in the top two for promotion, especially when you consider an impending points deduction from the ECB. But they are by no means out of the equation, insists Tattersall.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Jonny Tattersall with the gloves versus Gloucestershire.
“If we keep playing that kind of cricket and win a lot of these games, we still might end up being close to promotion. You just don’t know,” he said.
“That obviously depends on the results of the points deduction. You still don’t know until somebody tells you. If we can get on a winning streak, who knows where we could be at the end of year.
“Getting into that winning habit is massive for some of the younger lads.”
“At Chesterfield (against Derbyshire last month), that was some of the lads’ first win in Championship cricket.
“It’s difficult to win games of four-day cricket, but if we can get those lads winning a few games and get that winning feeling going – get them used to what it takes to win four-day matches – then that’s obviously going to help us out going into next season as well.”
This is the first of two Championship games before the month-long break for the Metro Bank One-Day Cup. With leaders Durham to come at Scarborough next week, Yorkshire are facing two of the top three teams in Division Two.
“The lads are really looking forward to it,” said Tattersall. “I know the bowlers for certain are looking forward to getting back to the Dukes ball in this game.
“Sussex first, obviously, but Scarborough is always a great week. That will be a really tough challenge as well against a very good Durham side.”
Sussex will be only Tattersall’s fourth Championship appearance of a season which started with a broken finger and didn’t produce a first-team appearance until May 26 in the Vitality Blast.
“I always look at the Championship as the bulk of the season because T20s can be a bit hit and miss,” he added. “Even though I’ve played 12 Blast games, I feel like I’ve not really done much.”
A repeat this week of the first-innings 79 he scored in Yorkshire’s last Championship match at Headingley against Gloucestershire – a draw – at the start of the month, and he may just contribute to a significant moment in the county’s season if a win is secured.
Sussex drew a high-scoring clash with Derbyshire at Hove last week. They are captained by batter Tom Alsop in the absence of Cheteshwar Pujara on Indian Test duty.
