McGrath wants bigger and better (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

McGrath wants bigger and better

6:20pm Wednesday 8th July 2009 in

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Anthony McGrath insists Yorkshire have been playing good cricket this season but they need to do it more often if they are to haul themselves away from relegation danger in the County Championship.

The White Rose county have lost two of their last four matches, both to Somerset, and have slipped into dangerous waters in LV Division One.

They are in desperate need of a pick-me-up but face four-day champions Durham at Headingley on Friday as they search for their first win in 18 matches dating back to June of last year.

“We have played some good cricket but it’s just a matter of doing it more often than we have been,” confirmed captain McGrath.

“We have good sessions, then we have really bad ones that put us in real trouble.

“Until we get this win, people are going to carry on talking about the fact that we haven’t won for however long it is.”

McGrath was left shell-shocked after Somerset chased down 476 on the final day to win at Taunton last Friday.

“Never in a million years did I think they were going to chase down that because we had dominated the game,” he said.

“People were talking about pulling out overnight with a lead of 430-440 but we knew how good a wicket it was. We thought that it was a conservative declaration if anything.

“To win the game would obviously have been a major boost but the worst we thought could happen would be to come away with the full 12 points.

“That would have still been a confidence-booster after what had happened before.”

McGrath will at least be able to call upon a little bit more experience against the County Championship leaders, who have won their last four matches.

Adil Rashid, Tim Bresnan, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Deon Kruis are all available to return against Durham.

Last week, against the Cidermen, McGrath and Martyn Moxon were forced to field a bowling attack including youngsters James Lee, Azeem Rafiq, Ajmal Shahzad and Steve Patterson.

“We had such a young side and it just shows that you need to be able to mix youth with experience,” said McGrath.

“They are all very talented cricketers but you can be a little exposed with them all in at once.”