Ourbatsmen are playing with fear, says Moxon
YORKSHIRE Vikings face early One-Day Cup North Group pace-setters Derbyshire Falcons in Chesterfield on Sunday – with director of cricket Martyn Moxon admitting his side’s batting is well out of shape.
Last year’s semi-finalists were all out for just 170 against Worcestershire Rapids in their opening 50-overs game as Gary Ballance top scored with just 30.
Seven of Yorkshire’s top nine reached double figures on Tuesday but none could go on and make the required game-changing innings which has also eluded Moxon’s men in the T20 Blast in recent weeks.
“Batsmen are just not in their best form.There is a bit of a fear of getting out as opposed to going and scoring runs,” he said.
“The players are working so hard in practice trying to do the right thing and practise as we play.
“We said at the end of last year that we wanted to get a settled team so that we’re not chopping and changing.You’ve got a Catch-22.
“If you keep changing, before you know it you are nowhere. We have to give it enough time to say,‘we’ve tried that for long enough now’.”
There are no such batting issues for Notts Outlaws who have scored in excess of 400 runs both times they have played in the one-day cup this year. The free-scoring trio of Michael Lumb, Riki Wessels and Dan Christian travel to Blackpool to face Lancashire on Sunday while winless Leicestershire make the short trip to Northampton, and Durham Jets face Worcestershire at Chester-leStreet.
In the South Group, Essex Eagles and Somerset, both of whom have won their opening two fixtures, face each other at the County Ground in Chelmsford.
Both teams will be desperate for a win to keep the pressure on in-form Glamorgan who sit top on run rate ahead of their trip to Canterbury.
Sussex Sharks will look for their first win of the competition when they welcome Middlesex to Hove.