Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Anthony McGrath spoke about the Sussex draw, injuries and a possible new overseas signing.
Anthony McGrath was pleased with Yorkshire’s performance and content with the outcome against Sussex at Headingley this week, the White Rose much improved from the opening fortnight of the campaign.
Both sides played some strong cricket in a game Rothesay County Championship fixture which saw each claim 13 points having traded 500-plus totals in their first innings.
In the end, Yorkshire were the most likely winners, given Sussex started day four on 31-2 in their second innings, leading by only 22. They soon slipped to 44-3, only for Tom Clark’s 93 to lead them to 324-8 when bad light stopped play just before 4.30pm.
Yorkshire’s second draw in three games, added to a defeat, takes them off the bottom of the Division One table and gives them confidence heading to face Somerset at the Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton from Friday.
England star Joe Root will be available for that game, but Ben Coad will not be. McGrath revealed he has a torn left side and will miss at least the remainder of the opening block of Championship matches, which run through until mid-May.
McGrath also revealed the county are putting the finishing touches on a replacement overseas signing for Will Sutherland, who recently had to pull out of his deal to play in the Vitality Blast and be available for two Championship matches in June.
On Matthew Revis only bowling two overs in the first innings and nothing in the second, McGrath said it was “hopefully more muscle stiffness than anything more sinister”.
He went on: “We’ll probably get him looked at properly tomorrow. He was going to be available to bowl today, which is a good sign. I think he’s going to have that for a bit with a (back) stress fracture he’s had. We are managing him all the time.”
On the performance, McGrath continued: “I thought it was a good performance. The pitch probably didn’t do as much as we thought throughout the game, but I thought it was still a very good cricket wicket.
“We knew bowling first there was probably going to be more in it, as there always is at Headingley.
“We had them 150-5, there were a couple of big shouts. So, yeah, we just couldn’t make that breakthrough.
“Then, on flatter surfaces, I think you’ve got to try different things to get wickets. We probably leaked more runs and didn’t quite get it right on that first day, which can happen.
“But it was nice for our guys to get some runs on the board and bat big.
“Then, I thought we were brilliant in the second innings. Two wickets last night, and we were fantastic today. We were always looking at ways to try and give ourselves some kind of chase and win. Time just got us in the end.
“We asked for a response from the last game, and I think we certainly got that. There were some really good signs.”
McGrath spoke about overseas fast bowler Jhye Richardson, who conceded figures of 0-131 in 21 overs before responding positively to score 35 with the bat and then claim 2-59 from 13 overs in the second.
“He was gutted himself that night,” said McGrath, of Richardson’s opening day performance.
“He thought he’d let everyone down, which we’ve all seen enough cricket – sometimes you just get it wrong. He’s obviously wanting to do well and striving to do well, and he probably just missed full and a bit wide.
“But, I thought he came back well in the second innings on a pitch with not a lot of pace. If you are off line with a short boundary and how fast the outfield is here – attacking field as well – you can leak runs. I think it was just one of them things.
“As a unit, we spoke after day one, we didn’t get that right.
“We knew we had to get wickets on that first day to give ourselves a chance of a win. It was just a bad day for the bowlers on day one.”
McGrath was full of praise for Fin Bean, who kept wicket in this match impressively and scored 105 at the top of the order in the first innings. Bean kept with captain Jonny Bairstow still not 100 percent fit following his fractured thumb.
“Remarkable effort from Beany to keep for as long as he did and then to come up with what he did with the bat,” said McGrath.
“I don’t think it’s sustainable going forward, opening the batting and keeping. But he’s keen to do it, and I think it shows more than anything his character.
“If Beany has to do it for another week, we’ve seen he absolutely can. It’s just seeing how comfortable Jonny is catching the ball.”
On Coad, McGrath said: “We’re still not fully clear, but it’s a side injury, and they’re not great. We certainly won’t see him in this block of Championship games. Hopefully we can get him back as soon as possible.
“We’re pretty much down to the bowlers who played this and Ben Cliff. The other guys are injured as well, the young guys. So we are quite short.”
And on a replacement signing for Sutherland, McGrath added: “We’re close to getting someone.
“We’ve had a bit of a rollercoaster already with our own injuries and Naveen-ul-Haq being out. We’re just waiting for a couple of bits, but hopefully by the end of next week we might have some news on who we can get.”