Yorkshire are about to embark on the first of six crucial days of cricket at Scarborough’s North Marine Road before the summer is out as their hopes of silverware reach a crucial juncture.
The county are still in with a chance of success in both the Vitality County Championship and the Metro Bank One-Day Cup.
Later this month, promotion-chasing Yorkshire’s first of five remaining Division Two fixtures is played on the East Coast against Division Two leaders Sussex.
First, though, the Vikings face two 50-over matches in three days there, against Essex tomorrow (11am) and then Leicestershire Foxes on Thursday.
This September, it is 150 years since the first county match was played at Scarborough, a drawn three-day match against Middlesex in 1874.
Yorkshire have currently won two, lost two in Group B and are two points adrift of the top three qualifying places at the halfway point of the group stage. They lost their last fixture against Gloucestershire at York on Friday to make their task harder, but confidence remains high.
“It was disappointing,” said all-rounder Matthew Revis, of last week’s defeat.
Picture by John Clifton/SWpix.com. Matthew Revis celebrates taking a wicket at York last week.
“We really wanted to make it three wins and a defeat to make sure the first half of the comp was really promising. But we’ve got four more games, and we need to win at least three of them, I reckon.
“We always like playing at Scarborough. We’ve already won there in the Championship, and we know how to bowl there and play good cricket there.
“I’m very confident we can go and win two games.
“We often play our best cricket at Scarborough. I don’t know what it is, whether it’s the crowd, the environment or the experience – maybe all of that.
“Scarborough’s a place we’ve played a lot at through the junior set-up, so you’re kind of learning how to win games there since you’re young. We’re disappointed with Gloucestershire, but we’re going to go to Scarborough and put in a real fight.”
Yorkshire face an Essex side who have lost three of their first four matches. Coached by Anthony McGrath and captained by Tom Westley, they were beaten at home to Glamorgan yesterday.
“We haven’t hit our straps yet aside from the Surrey game where everybody batted really well. But we’re not far off,” said batter James Wharton, who was one of two fifty-makers in the Glos defeat.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Half-centurion James Wharton plays off the back foot as Gloucestershire wicketkeeper James Bracey watches on during Friday’s clash.
“We’ve played Leicestershire and Essex quite a bit in this competition over the last couple of years, so we know what they’re about,” added Revis, who struck once with the ball on Friday before hitting a late 41 as he tried to rescue the hosts in pursuit of 252.
Revis, 22, has made an encouraging start to the Metro Bank One-Day Cup. He has claimed one wicket with his seamers in three of the four matches so far and has posted scores of 41 and 36 not out.
The latter score was crucial in victory over Sussex at the Oval as he pushed the Vikings up to an imposing 33-over total of 240-6 with four sixes in 15 balls.
His useful contributions have come after a frustrating first half of the summer which saw him start it out of the Championship team before striking eight times in six appearances added to a best score of 27.
In the Vitality Blast, he claimed six wickets in nine matches with a best score of 30.
But statistics don’t tell the full story as, with the ball in white ball cricket, Revis has bowled some tough overs – in the powerplay, for example, and at the death.
It’s a challenge he enjoys.
Picture by John Clifton/SWpix.com. Matthew Revis sways out of the way of a short ball against Sussex last Wednesday.
“I try and chip in whenever I can, and I never mind when I’m thrown the ball in pressure situations. I back myself to overcome those,” he continued.
“They’re really tough overs to bowl, and you can bowl exactly what you want to and still go for boundaries because there’s only two fielders out. I like doing the hard overs, because if you come through those you’re set up well for the future.
“That’s where I’ve learnt to take everything with a pinch of salt because I’m batting at seven and won’t be scoring the hundreds of a top order batter, and I won’t be taking the wickets as someone like Coady because of where I’m bowling.
“For me, it’s about impacting games. Unfortunately, I couldn’t quite do it the other day. But hopefully I can in the ones coming up.”
Whatever the rest of the summer holds for Revis, he will no doubt reflect on this year on the whole as a huge one for his development. Having spent last winter playing grade cricket in Australia, he will have learnt a huge amount.
“I think so,” added Revis, who of course took a hat-trick last season when Yorkshire lost to Kent in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup at Scarborough.
“It’s never ideal to not be taking as many wickets as you want, but that’s just part of cricket.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Shan Masood plays this week’s two matches at Scarborough before linking up with Pakistan for Test duty at home to Bangladesh.
“I was left out of the first few (Championship) games, and that’s also fine because we have a really good squad.
“Injuries happen, and it’s up to me to come in and perform.
“I thought I was a bit unlucky not to take the wickets I wanted. But it’s about being patient and sticking to what works. It should end up well in the end.
“Maybe before this year, I could have been a bit guilty of looking at it as outcome based. But it’s like the old saying goes, ‘You always learn more from the poor performances rather than the good ones. I think I’ve learnt a heck of a lot.
“I’m a lot closer now to understanding my role than I was two years when I started bowling in the 50-over team.
“I’m a lot clearer on understanding my strengths and weaknesses.”
