Shan Masood says he was encouraged by his first day as Yorkshire captain.
Masood believes his side are in a “decent position” against Durham after the opening day at the Riverside having posted 254 batting first and then restricting the hosts to 42-2 in reply.
The Pakistan international top-scored with 44 and then spoke about his blueprint for success whilst in charge at Headingley.
Masood missed the first four Championship matches due to limited overs international duty at home against New Zealand, and he said: “You can never be gutted to play for your country. It’s a privilege, and I enjoy every aspect of it. But it was unfortunate that it happened at the time when I was required for Yorkshire – not being able to start the season.
“Look, today, when I came here as captain, I said to the team, ‘I want us to be the team that not only our fans enjoy watching but also the one other people enjoying watching’. That’s my aim.
“We want to play a brand of cricket that people love watching.
“I thought small things today, like winning the toss and batting first, applying ourselves. In the field, when we bowled those 13 overs, we were very good.
“I’m very excited to be here, and I believe we have every player here to have a very successful season.”
Masood went on: “I think, personally, it’s been a very good day because we’re playing a good Durham side with a good bowling attack.
“We chose to take the attacking option and bat first. I felt everyone batted really well, but the dismissals were a bit on the freakish end. There were some chop-ons, cut balls missed.
“We still got ourselves a respectable score and finished off quite well with the ball, getting two wickets and getting ourselves in a decent position for tomorrow.
“Overall, a lot of boxes ticked, and I was happy with how we applied ourselves. The result, sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t.”
Masood, himself included, admitted he was frustrated at a number of batters getting starts and not going on.
“The softness of the dismissals (was also one of them),” he said.
“But you have to give credit to the Durham bowlers. There was a lot of pressure created, the ball nibbled around a bit, the outfield was slow, and it was hard to score.
“Potts is a Test quality bowler, Carse bowled really well and Raine put the ball in good areas. They have a good attack that our batters had to negate.
“I thought (the pitch) it was a bit two-paced, and even with length it wasn’t one-sided. You saw I got hit on the head with one that went through. Another, which was banged in at the same length, it got up to stomach height.
“I feel we’re in a decent position. If we can get even a small lead and start building pressure, I think we’ll head towards a good result.”
The skipper also gave an update on injured compatriot Saud Shakeel. “He’s had a rough day,” he added.
“We have to try him out for two things – one that his ankle’s fine and two he doesn’t have a concussion that can happen overnight.”
