Keighley native happy to lean on England stars at Yorkshire

Hill wants to be batting alongside, rather than fighting for his place with, Joe Root and Harry Brook, and he and the latter go way back.

Not only were Hill and Brook both born in Keighley, but they went to the same school, learnt their craft in the Aire-Wharfe League and even shared a house together.

At two years younger than Brook, Hill has long looked up to the England international, telling the Keighley News: “I can learn a lot being around Rooty and Brooky in this first part of the season and Brooky is someone I spent a lot of time with at school.

“We were in the same housing too and then I was lucky, or unlucky, enough to live with him in his flat when I finished school.

“I know Brooky very well and we get on really well.

Whether it be in an Ashes Test or a Vitality County Championship Division Two match, Harry Brook feels right at home at Headingley. (Image: PA.)

“Rooty was around the year before last at the start of the Champo too and he’s so good with the younger lads.

“He gives up his own time to come and chat to you and it’s never a burden for him.

“It’s great to have the two of them here.”

But despite being close to his fellow Yorkshiremen, Hill might find his spot under threat in the upcoming Division Two matches, especially with captain and Pakistan international Shan Masood, who averages 40 in first-class cricket with 25 centuries to his name, also about for the first half of the season.

Hill had an excellent pre-season with the bat, both in Abu Dhabi and in the warm-up games at Headingley but made just 13 in his only innings in the Championship opener last week, while Brook blasted a sensational 100 not out from just 69 balls.

Root missed that game with Leicestershire, but he, Brook and Masood will all be in the side for the next four Championship games, starting with Gloucestershire away, which gets underway tomorrow.

Hill mused: “The main aim is to be in the team alongside the three of them.

“I had a good pre-season, so I feel like I’ve had the best possible way to start the year.

“It’s the best one I’ve had at Yorkshire and I want to play alongside those boys because it will be unbelievable to learn from them in the middle while I’m at the other end.”

Perhaps crucially, Hill has another string to his bow alongside his strong suit of batting.

The Keighley native is a handy medium pacer too, and took 3-55 in the first innings against Leicestershire, with all of those wickets being top-order scalps.

It is probably fair to call Hill a batting all-rounder, and with a first-class batting average of 31.49 and a bowling one of 26.80, Yorkshire have come to rely on him in both departments.

The 23-year-old has quietly made a name for himself over the past couple of years, but could this be the year he really breaks through and establishes himself as one of Yorkshire’s ‘undroppables’ or even puts himself on England’s radar?

He said: “Potentially I could kick on but I’m honestly not thinking too far ahead.

“I’m just taking each game as it comes and I’m looking to focus on scoring bigger runs.

“I got seven fifties last year but only one hundred, so I’ve worked hard on that over the winter, trying to turn those starts into something more substantial.

George Hill batted well last season, but without hitting the heights he was after. (Image: Ray Spencer.)

“Hopefully, if I can do that, that’ll help the boys win more games this year.”

That pre-season showing has teed Hill up nicely for the new year, as he hit an eye-catching 81 off the Warwickshire attack in a two-day friendly in Abu Dhabi, before he top-scored against Leeds/Bradford MCCU at Headingley with 82 not out from 83 balls, then struck 48 in a warm-up clash at home to Durham.

The Keighley native said: “I spent a couple of months in New Zealand before heading to Abu Dhabi and it was great to be batting and bowling outside with it being their summer.

“I was training a couple of days a week on grass and that put me in a really good place ahead of the Abu Dhabi trip.

“It was nice to spend some time out there, obviously in very different conditions to here, with Abu Dhabi being out in the desert.

“But it was just nice to spend time in the middle there and I’m feeling in good shape with the bat.”

As mentioned, Hill took that form into trickier batting conditions at Headingley too, and he added: “Last year I struggled in pre-season, but going away to New Zealand helped me a lot this time around.

“I feel a lot more confident in my game and I feel like I back myself a lot more, which should be a good sign.”

George Hill (left) is popular with his team-mates, not least because he has shown form with both bat and ball this year so far. (Image: PA.)

On his cricketing background, Hill said: “When I was really young, I played for Pool, then moved to Olicanian and played there for years, so I’d consider them my home club.

“I was born at Airedale Hospital and while I grew up in Bingley, my school was near Keighley and my cricket was always around the area too.

“I spent a lot of time in Keighley as a kid, so the town has a special place in my heart.”