TOM Kohler-Cadmore believes intensity in the field will be key to success in this summer’s Vitality Blast, which starts with games behind closed doors later this week.

Yorkshire’s 10-game North Group campaign begins with a televised meeting against last season’s beaten semi-finalists Nottinghamshire at Emerald Headingley tomorrow at 6:35pm.

The Vikings will be searching for their maiden Blast title and only their third Finals Day appearance.

All cricket played so far this season has been done so in front of the backdrop of empty stands, with members and supporters only able to watch on live streams - not for televised Sky games, though.

Kohler-Cadmore admits it has been strange to play the opening four rounds of the four-day Bob Willis Trophy without crowds, feelings which will only be heightened in the Blast.

“Four-day cricket has been slightly strange, missing that murmur and hum around the ground,” said the opening batsman and stand-in captain for absent England all-rounder David Willey.

“The T20 crowds are much more vocal, and it will be very different. But the whole year’s been different. So you just have to buy into it.

“We have to make sure we create our own energy and atmosphere when we’re in the field. Whichever teams do that best will be the successful ones.

“You will hear more noise anyway because of crowds not being there, but energy in the field doesn’t come from noise. It comes from body language and intensity.

“When you’re throwing the ball into the keeper, making sure it hits the gloves hard, or making an outstanding diving stop.

“That, for me, is more important than someone shouting louder.

“If I’m batting against a team and they’re surrounding me, building pressure with good fielding, that’s when it gets harder - more so than hearing someone clapping and shouting once you’ve hit a four.

“We have to make sure our skills are at their sharpest now more than ever.”

Kohler-Cadmore, 26, is ushering in somewhat of a new era for Yorkshire’s T20 side.

Willey was appointed the new Vikings captain in February, only to earn an England white ball recall and be unavailable for as many as the opening eight games of the North Group.

“It’s brilliant for Dave that he’s back in the England fold, and he’s left me in charge,” said Kohler-Cadmore, who led the side for the majority of last season’s Blast as a deputy for Steve Patterson.

“Him and Andrew Gale have done a brilliant job through the winter, developing a brand of cricket that we’re looking to play.

“For me, it’s just about helping to push it in the direction that Dave wants it, and I’m 100 percent with that.

“It’s massively exciting to be leading a bit of a new era with, obviously, Dave’s help. I’m sure he’ll be keeping his eye out and hopefully speaking to me regularly about different things.

“It’s a great opportunity for some of our youngsters to put their hands up and show what they can do.

“This year we’ve seen quite a lot of debutants already - Dom Leech has shown how good he is, Jordan Thompson has stood up, George Hill as well.

“There are a lot of opportunities coming, and it’s great for us to see how much depth and quality we have at the club.”

Along with an added intensity in the field, the Yorkshire hierarchy have also put a significant emphasis on role awareness for players - perhaps more so than ever before, as they bid to get beyond years of underachievement in this format.

“There is a massive responsibility to know your role and sticking to that,” said Kohler-Cadmore. “But within that, having a freedom to go out and win the game for us.

“There’s also perhaps more of an emphasis on practicing that specific role.

“For the last couple of years I’ve batted at the top of the order, so I will practice that. I won’t practice batting at six and seven.

“Those guys who bat there, when they play in the twos for example, they will still be practicing that role.

“It’s about mimicking what you’re going to be doing in the first team.

“Previously, say I was batting in one of those middle order positions, playing in the seconds, I might have said, ‘I want to face as many balls as I can - I’ll bat higher’.

“But T20 cricket isn’t like that because roles are so different, with power-plays and batting at the death to contend with.

“You have to get used to your role in the twos because you don’t want to be doing something which is unfamiliar going into the first team.

“There is a lot of excitement around the messages that Galey and Dave have put there.”

The Notts game is the first of five fixtures in nine days.

And while Kohler-Cadmore insists getting out of the blocks is an obvious aim, it comes with a caveat.

He added: “Whenever you start a competition, the aim is to win it. So, for us, it’s about putting in performances and starting well, especially with it being a shortened season.

“We have to get off to a good start, but we must learn from every game and get even better because you don’t want to be peaking in games one and two.

“You want to be peaking towards the finals so that when you get to Finals Day you’re absolutely flying and buzzing about.”

Meanwhile, while Yorkshire will be without overseas star Nicholas Pooran as a result of the challenges thrown up by coronavirus, Notts will still have Australian all-rounder Dan Christian available.

Yorkshire squad for Notts T20: Kohler-Cadmore (c), Brook, Fisher, Fraine, Hill, Loten, Lyth, Pillans, Poysden, Revis, Root, Shutt, Tattersall (wk), Thompson.