James Wharton says he and his Yorkshire team-mates are bidding to find a ruthless edge to their game as they aim for progression during the final month of the summer.
Wharton was the county’s standout performer with 58 on day one of their LV= Insurance County Championship clash with Derbyshire at Scarborough today.
Yorkshire, invited to bat, were bowled out for 297 – a competitive score on a pitch which always offers something to the bowlers at North Marine Road.
But they could have had more, with a number of batters making starts, including Wharton himself. Adam Lyth made 32 at the top of the order, for example, while his opening partner Fin Bean made 41 and Jonny Tattersall 45.
“On that pitch – it’s a good one, it’s slow – you need to cash in. It’s about us being a bit more ruthless and picking our shots a bit better, so that when you get to 30, 40 or 50, you make it into 130, 140 or 150,” said Wharton.
Derbyshire closed the day on 47-1 from 17 overs, recovering from 0-1.
“We‘ve just had a chat at the end there, and we’ve said, ‘If we’d have taken four or five bad balls out of that, they’d have been 26-1 after 17 overs’,” continued the 22-year-old.
“It’s those little things we need to get better at with bat and ball, and the game could be very different coming back tomorrow.
“But we’ve still got a lot of runs on the board, and they’ve got to go and get them. It’s just down to us to put it in the right area.”
Continuing his assessment of the day, Wharton said: “It was interesting. It was just a case of losing wickets in clumps and at funny times in the game. That stunted us.
“When myself and Tatts were in, we felt quite good and comfortable. We were 200-4, and then there were a couple of soft dismissals.
“But it was a great counter-attack from Bessy, Fish and Tommo to help get us to the score we’re on.”
Wharton has now scored two Championship half-centuries this season, added to a century in the Vitality Blast and a fifty in the most recent Metro Bank One-Day Cup.
He added: “I felt good out there. I’ve been doing a bit of work with Ali (Maiden) and to work on things I need to get better at. It was good for me to put it into a game situation today. It’s always good batting with Tatts, who is calm and has a lot of experience.
“It was nice to get a few, but I should have got more.”
