Sheffield Cricket Lovers' Society Year Book 2012

31 Sheffield Cricket Lovers’ Society ended with the team having won just three games out of 16 in the County Championship. However, all is not doom and gloom. Ryan Sidebottom proved that he is still a class act in the seam bowling stakes and a much improved batsman. Johnny Bairstow is now well on England’s radar and deserves this recognition after a fine season. Rich Pyrah has really come on as an all rounder and his form in the early part of the season in particular was very impressive. Joe Root and Gary Ballance both did tremendously well and look real prospects for the future. Andrew Gale has ended his honeymoon period as Yorkshire Captain and this was a much tougher year for him. But again, he showed on a number of occasions his fighting spirit and great quality as a batsman. Director of Cricket, Martyn Moxon, must have been tearing his hair out on occasions. There were times when Martyn came in for criticism himself. This is part of the territory but I believe he is the right man for the job and will turn the fortunes round again as quickly as possible. At the time of writing, there look to be changes ahead in the coaching structure. Yorkshire must also make sure that they strengthen the ranks with a high quality overseas player and hopefully another seam bowler. I also believe that Shahzad and Rashid remain quality players and if they can rekindle the fire and form of the past then it will be like having two ‘new’ players in the ranks for 2012. Can Yorkshire bounce back? Quite simply, the answer is yes but it will not be easy and it is essential that the side starts well in the 2012 campaign so that they can make a sustained challenge in the Second Division. Dave Callaghan is the Yorkshire Cricket correspondent for the BBC and covers every Yorkshire fixture throughout the season. Dave, on behalf of the BBC in Yorkshire, provides Internet commentary on every Yorkshire game in addition to 31 daily reports for five BBC local radio stations. Johnny Bairstow Richard Pyrah Adil Rashid Ajmal Shazhad