Sheffield Cricket Lovers' Year Book 2014

29 Sheffield Cricket Lovers’ Society Gary Ballance, the outstanding player of the season with 1,251 runs, was rightly named in England’s squad for the Ashes winter tour. Ryan Sidebottom and Steve Patterson were excellent in the pace bowling area. New signings Liam Plunkett and Jack Brooks fared well in the four pronged pace attack. Adil Rashid played his part with the ball but these days he is far more adept with the bat and his return of 835 runs was a major plus for the side. The late summer signing of Kane Williamson as overseas player proved to be fruitful for both parties. He is a fine player and will be a key man in 2014. Skipper Andrew Gale is an excellent County Captain and he chipped in with a considerable number of runs after a shaky start to the campaign. The strength of the Club is apparent by the number of times that England came calling, which will hopefully continue for many years to come. One area in which I personally would like to see some improvement is the speed at which Yorkshire score their runs. Their tempo needs to be increased whenever possible so that more bonus points can be achieved. Yorkshire generated more batting points than any of their rivals in 2013 but I still think that with the talent available more scores of over 400 within 110 overs could be achieved for maximum batting reward. In the one day game Yorkshire struggled with no impression made in either the YB40 Competition or the T20. A number of youngsters were blooded – a tactic not to everyone’s taste. The fact that one day form deteriorated will leave Yorkshire with a real desire to put it right in 2014 – especially in the T20 competition. So bring on the new season and let’s hope that Yorkshire can go one better and end the long drought by bringing home a domestic trophy. Jack Brooks Kane Williamson Adil Rashid www.sheffieldcricketlovers.org.uk