Yorkshire on the front foot with fully fit squad for season’s start
TO say that Yorkshire are expected to do well this season is an understatement; most of the major bookmakers have them priced at 7/4 or 15/8 to win the County Championship Second Division, with their closest rivals generally no better than around 5/1 or 6/1.
For Ottis Gibson, the head coach charged with making supporters’ – and punters’ – dreams come true, expectation is only to be anticipated at a club of Yorkshire’s stature.
However, he believes that there is a key reason why such optimism is not misplaced – namely, that his squad has a clean bill of health and, particularly, his frontline pace bowlers.
There is little doubt that, in Ben Coad, Matty Fisher and Matt Milnes, Yorkshire have three of the best around, but getting them all on the park – or at least two of them depending on tactics/selection – is the key.
In 2022, Gibson’s first season, injuries restricted Coad to only five appearances in the 14 matches and Fisher to just two.
Last year, Coad played 11 games and Fisher nine, only for new signing Milnes to manage just two appearances due to his own injury problems.
Now, all three are fighting fit and available for the opening game against Leicestershire at Headingley, starting on Friday, when the journey towards what should be a successful season begins in earnest.
“If you’re playing for Yorkshire, you’re expected to do well all the time, but the difference this year is that we’ve got ourselves to the start of the season and we’ve got all of our best players – and especially our best bowlers – fit,” said Gibson.
“We’ve got a fit Ben Coad, we’ve got a fit Matthew Fisher, we’ve got a fit Matt Milnes that we didn’t have last year, so everybody’s fit and therefore expectation around us with regards to our bowling, in particular, is higher.
“The first year (2022) we didn’t see Coad for a long part of the season, and Fish had a stress fracture that first year as well.
“Last year, Milnes got injured the first game and missed most of the season, and Coady was struggling for periods too.
“But, because of the work that we’ve done all winter, we’ve got everybody fit and we’re very pleased with that.
“Those are our main bowlers, after all, so to have them available gives us a much better chance.
“We know that people will get injured – there will be rotation as well because in the first eight weeks we’ve got seven games, which is a nonsense when you’re trying to operate in an elite environment – but if we can keep those guys fit, that will be key.”
Yorkshire have yet to field Coad, Fisher and Milnes in the same Championship side, and it will be fascinating to see how they accommodate and rotate them in the coming weeks.
If all three are picked, it could leave one of the all-rounders vulnerable, or it might impact on whether a spinner is chosen; either way, there should be selection headaches for Gibson and the captain, Shan Masood.
Prior to Darren Gough’s departure as the club’s managing director of cricket, there had been talk of signing a second overseas player to complement Masood, depending on whether a batsman or bowler was required.
However, the availability of Coad, Fisher and Milnes leaves the bowling in good order, while the availability of batsmen Harry Brook and Joe Root in the season’s early weeks offsets the unavailability for redball of Dawid Malan. Consequently, there is not the same imperative to sign anybody, with budget considerations also a factor.
“We did consider adding to what we have, but we’ve got some quality players who are fit at this moment,” added Gibson.
“Obviously, budget does come into it – it’s no secret where we are, and it doesn’t need me going over it.
“But I suspect also that if we have a crisis and I go to the bosses upstairs and say, ‘look, we have a crisis, and we are close to winning the Second Division, and so on, and we need “x”, I suspect from the conversations I have had with them that they might try and find something to help get us over the line.”
At present, there is no crisis on the horizon (is this really Yorkshire we are talking about?) and every reason to suppose that Gibson’s faith in his squad is entirely justified.
The man himself is certainly relishing the task.
“We can take nothing for granted, but pre-season went really well and we’re really looking forward to the start of the season,” he said. “We’ve got a very good squad and keeping everybody fit is our main focus now.
“We feel like we’ve got a squad that can compete in all formats too, not just in red-ball
“We’re really excited to get going and we’re in a great place.”
No play was possible on the final day of Yorkshire’s three-day friendly against Leeds-Bradford UCCE at Headingley due to the weather.