Ground: Headingley Stadium, Leeds
Captain: Shan Masood
2023 results: CC2: 7/8; ODC: 6/9 Group A; T20: 8/9 North Group
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
The pattern is familiar: by summer Yorkshire play cricket, by winter they are torn apart by scandal and controversy. The club’s Director of cricket Darren Gough has now gone, and Colin Graves, 76, the club’s chairman during the period a decade ago when Yorkshire failed to deal with systematic racism, has, to general astonishment, returned. The short answer, of course, is money – Graves made a loan offer which “will keep the business solvent”, according to Yorkshire. He has pledged to make amends, but it’s a long road. In the short term there is optimism that Yorkshire can push for Championship promotion this summer, no longer saddled by the 48-point deduction handed out last July for the club’s treatment of Azeem Rafiq. They would have finished third in the Division Two without it, and this despite Neil Wagner’s move being cancelled because of injury and star signing Shan Masood – who now faces the formidable challenge of captaining Yorkshire and Pakistan – missing for half the season. Green shoots appeared, Finlay Bean forming a productive opening partnership with the evergreen Adam Lyth, while allrounders George Hill and Matt Revis seem to have found their feet. The Coad-Fisher-Thompson seam trio is a strong one – if they stay fit.
THE VIEW FROM THE COMMENTARY BOX
2023 was always going to be a difficult year for Yorkshire in championship cricket, the club having been hit by a 48-point deduction by the Cricket Discipline Commission.
Their situation was made worse by the terrible weather that hit their red ball season, losing no fewer than 42% of their playing hours as a result.
Given all of that, the squad did remarkably well to remain motivated and played some good cricket in the context of division two, with head coach Ottis Gibson challenging them to play themselves into a position that meant they could at least say they would have been promoted had it not been for the points penalty.
As it turned out, they didn’t quite manage that and would have finished a notional third but I am very confident that they would have achieved their aim, had it not been for the weather costing them at least three wins. This was also with a weakened bowling attack as they played without Matt Milnes, their signing from Kent, for all but the first and last championship matches due to injury.
The success story was very much in the left-handed opening batting partnership of Adam Lyth, who managed to pass the 1,000-run mark despite the dearth of action, and Finlay Bean, who fell just 17 runs short of achieving the feat for the first time.
