Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Anthony McGrath and his Yorkshire players face league leaders Nottinghamshire this weekend.
After one tough challenge comes another. But Anthony McGrath is confident his Yorkshire players will be better for the experience of facing county champions Surrey and seeing first hand what it takes to be the best in the business.
Champions Surrey at the Kia Oval last weekend, Rothesay County Championship leaders Nottinghamshire at Headingley this, starting tomorrow (11am).
Yorkshire are aiming to bounce back from an innings defeat in South London and will go in search of a second win in seven matches when they face the Trent Bridge table-toppers.
“I think what everyone’s finding is that teams like Surrey or the better teams, they’re on you all the time,” said McGrath. “You don’t get a minute to relax.
“With Division Two, you can probably get through a tough hour or two and then you’re away. Back up here, you look at Surrey’s five bowlers, it’s hard work, it’s levels.
“But the lads we’ve got can get to those levels, it’s just realising that and working that out.
Picture by Ben Hoskins/Getty Images. Adam Lyth in action against Surrey last time out.
“We want to be a team competing with Surrey and winning the league,” continued McGrath. “To do that, you’ve got to be brave in how you play, but in your actions and your beliefs.
“I don’t want us to be a team who are meandering around and just ok. I want us to be the best, and you’ve got to be ruthless with that.
“I’ll repeat, I’ve got belief in the lads in there because I’ve seen them practice every day. They’ve just got to transfer the practice into the games.”
Yorkshire sit second-bottom in Division One ahead of a game which marks the halfway point in the four-day summer. It is the last before the month-long break before the start of the Vitality Blast.
“Quite rightly, people are looking at the league and thinking, ‘We might be in a little bit of trouble,” continued McGrath. “But a win can change that because the league is pretty tight.
“Notts have struggled the past few years, but they’re a good example that if you do get it right, you can get some wins on the board.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Ben Coad is set to lead Yorkshire’s attack against Nottinghamshire.
“They’ve played, probably, the best cricket in the division so far.
“They’ve got some injuries as well and changes. But, like I say, I think we can compete with every team if we’re on it.”
Nottinghamshire have won three of six matches so far and sit top on 96 points, the difference between them and Yorkshire only 40 points at present.
But they do arrive at Headingley on the back of their only defeat, to Durham at the Banks Homes Riverside last time out, despite posting 407 in their first innings.
Durham responded with 664 and ended up chasing a day four target of 91, winning by seven wickets.
Yorkshire will once again be leaving 12 millimetres of grass on the pitch at Headingley to aid pace and carry. They have won one and lost one so far on home turf.
Picture by Stu Forster/Getty Images. James Wharton scored a second-innings 67 against Surrey on Sunday.
“All the grass at Headingley is doing is making the ball carry,” said McGrath. “I don’t see balls rolling along the floor, flying off a length or nipping a mile.
“We haven’t been able to get wickets in previous years at Headingley, and it’s just giving the bowlers a chance to be in the game and make it a fair contest.
“That’s the cricket I want to watch, it’s the cricket I want us to play, and I think that’s the way to go.
“It can expose you, and I said that right from the go. You’re going to lose games playing like that until you get used to it and believe in the way we’re going to play.
“You’ve got to win eight, nine or 10 games to win this league.”
Yorkshire will be forced into at least one change from the team which faced Surrey and likely more.
Picture by Stu Forster/Getty Images. Nottinghamshire captain Haseeb Hameed is having an excellent season with the bat.
Captain Jonny Bairstow has joined up with the Mumbai Indians for the latter stages of the Indian Premier League, while there were fitness concerns surrounding Jordan Buckingham (hip flexor) and Jonny Tattersall (left hand) when leaving the Oval. Fast bowler Ben Sears, who missed the last two games with an ankle injury, has returned home to New Zealand.
Coached by Peter Moores, Notts are captained by opening batter Haseeb Hameed. They have South African wicketkeeper-batter Kyle Verreynne and Pakistan seamer Mohammad Abbas as their two overseas signings.
Hameed, capped 10 times by England in Test Matches, is the leading run-scorer in Division One with 695 in six matches, including scores of 138 not out and 206 not out.
The former came in last month’s draw with Warwickshire at Edgbaston, the latter in the first innings at Durham last time out. The Lancastrian carried his bat in both of those innings.
Hameed is 13 runs better off than Adam Lyth at the top of the run-scoring chart.
Experienced Doncaster-born new ball seamer Brett Hutton is their leading wicket-taker in 2025 with 22.
YORKSHIRE v NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, FIRST-CLASS CRICKET – 1863–2021 – STAT PACK
Results (home & away) County Championship: Played 207; Yorkshire won 77, Nottinghamshire won 27, Drawn 103. (Abandoned 5).
In addition, the counties have played 55 non-Championship matches, 18 won by Yorkshire, 22 by Nottinghamshire and 15 drawn.
At Headingley (all Championship): Played 28; Yorkshire won 12, Nottinghamshire won 4, Drawn 12. (Abandoned 1).
Most recent results: 2021, Nottinghamshire won by five wickets at Trent Bridge.
Yorkshire’s most recent victory – 2019, at Scarborough by 143 runs.
Most recent draw – 2019, at Trent Bridge.
Most successive wins: Yorkshire 5 (1950-52 and 1960-62), Nottinghamshire 3 (1864-65, 1883-84 and 1993-95).
Two wins in a season: Yorkshire 16 times, Nottinghamshire 4 (most recent 1891).
Highest innings totals: For Yorkshire, 572-8dec at Scarborough in 2013.
For Nottinghamshire, 545-7dec at Headingley in 2010
Lowest innings totals: For Yorkshire, 32 at Sheffield (Bramall Lane) in 1876.
For Nottinghamshire, 13 at Trent Bridge in 1901.
Highest individual score: For Yorkshire, 285 by P Holmes at Trent Bridge in 1929.
For Nottinghamshire, 251* by DJ Hussey at Headingley in 2010.
Highest partnerships: For Yorkshire, 297 for the fifth wicket between AW Gale (272) and GS Ballance (141) at Scarborough in 2013.
For Nottinghamshire, 270 for the third wicket between DW Randall (166) and CEB Rice (121*) at Harrogate in 1980.
Best bowling figures (Innings): For Yorkshire, 10-10 by H Verity at Headingley in 1932.
For Nottinghamshire, 8-32 by JC Shaw at Trent Bridge in 1865.
Best bowling figures (match): For Yorkshire, 14-33 (8-12 and 6-21) by R Peel at Sheffield (Bramall Lane) in 1888.
For Nottinghamshire, 14-94 (8-38 and 6-56) by F Morley at Trent Bridge in 1878.
Hat tricks: For Yorkshire, 7 – by FS Trueman (3) at Trent Bridge in 1951, at Scarborough in 1955 and at Bradford in 1963, D Wilson (2) at Middlesborough in 1959 and at Worksop in 1966, H Verity at Headingley in 1932 and AL Robinson at Worksop in 1974.
Nottinghamshire, 0.
Most dismissals in an innings by a wicketkeeper: For Yorkshire, 6 (all caught) by H G Duke at Trent Bridge in 2021.
For Nottinghamshire, 6 (all caught) by CMW Read at Trent Bridge in 2013.
Most dismissals in a match by a wicketkeeper: For Yorkshire, 6 (all caught) by HG Duke at Trent Bridge in 2021.
For Nottinghamshire, 7 (3 caught and 4 stumped) by M Sherwin at Sheffield (Bramall Lane) in 1887.
Most catches in an innings by a fielder: For Nottinghamshire, 5 DW Randall at Trent Bridge in 1987.
No Yorkshire player has taken more than 4 in an innings.
Most catches in a match by a fielder: For Yorkshire, 6 by J Tunnicliffe at Sheffield (Bramall Lane) in 1895, P Holmes at Huddersfield in 1921 and JV Wilson at Trent Bridge in 1961.
For Nottinghamshire, 7 by SJ Mullaney at Trent Bridge in 2020.
One hundred runs and 10 wickets in a match: For Nottinghamshire, FD Stephenson 111 and 117 and 11-222 (4-105 and 7-117) at Trent Bridge in 1988.
A century and five wickets in an innings in a match: For Yorkshire, W.Bates 102 and 2-58 and 5-17 at Sheffield (Bramall Lane) in 1878, FS Jackson 43 and 145 and 0-10 and 5-37 at Headingley in 1894, JT Newstead 29 and 100* and 7-68 and 0-3 at Trent Bridge in 1908 and W Rhodes 176 and 5-68 and 0-7 at Harrogate in 1912.
At Headingley…
Highest innings totals: Yorkshire 441-9dec in 1962, Nottinghamshire 545-7dec in 2010.
Lowest innings totals: Yorkshire 75 in 1914, Nottinghamshire 63 in 1903.
Highest individual score: For Yorkshire, 169 by G Boycott in 1971.
For Nottinghamshire, 251* by DJ Hussey in 2010.
Best bowling figures (innings): For Yorkshire, 10-10 by H Verity in 1932.
For Nottinghamshire, 7-38 by FD Stephenson in 1989.
Best bowling figures (match): For Yorkshire, 12-74 (2-64 and 10-10) by H Verity in 1932.
For Nottinghamshire, 13-75 (7-38 and 6-37) by FD Stephenson in 1989.
Compiled by Paul Dyson, Peter Horne & Martyn Webster – members of the Association of Cricket Statisticians & Historians.
