JOSH POYSDEN says he has not thought too much about the added responsibility of being Yorkshire’s number one spinner now that Bradford's Adil Rashid has departed for England duty.

The former Warwickshire leg-spinner - who moved from Edgbaston last August, initially on loan prior to a three-year contract - is instead focusing on enjoying his cricket and attacking with the ball in hand.

Poysden, 27, has played in Yorkshire’s opening five Royal London One-Day Cup games, the last two against Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire without Rashid alongside him.

“It was really nice to play the first three games with Rash,” said the one-time England Lion, who has taken four wickets in all.

“I’ve only spent little periods with him before, so to spend a decent amount of time with him and pick his brains was nice. Chewing the fat about leg-spin with someone as skilful as him will be really beneficial.

“To be honest, when I saw Rash was available, I wasn’t sure I’d play, so it was nice to get that chance.

“I haven’t really thought too much about being the senior spinner now he’s gone. I just crack on and focus on enjoying it.

“Having Jeetan Patel at Warwickshire and Rash here, I haven’t played a lot as a number-one spinner. But hopefully it’s something I’m ready for. Bowling at important times is something you want to do in all formats.

“My outlook has been a bit more relaxed this year than it previously has.

“Instead of putting pressure on myself and worrying about my figures, I’ve just tried to enjoy it.

“It’s come out nicely so far, and I’ve picked up a few wickets.

“It’s been really nice to have that backing from Steve Patterson, Andrew Gale and the rest of the coaches.

“The clubs, Warwickshire and Yorkshire, are very similar.

“They’re both big clubs with aspirations of winning all three trophies, and I absolutely loved my time at Edgbaston and don’t have a bad word to say about them.

“Maybe there’s even more expectation here from outside given the club have won 32 Championships and shared one. There’s a lot of amazing history here.

“But I’ve been really impressed with how Galey (coach Andrew Gale) tries to make sure it’s a nice chilled environment, which fits well with how I’m trying to approach the year.

“We talk about playing brave cricket, and that’s great. Everyone buys into that and supports each other.”

With bat generally dominating ball in limited-overs cricket nowadays, Poysden admits worrying about personal bowling figures can be a thankless task, despite ironically returning a miserly none for 20 from seven overs in defeat at Notts on Sunday.

“If you’re trying to take wickets in the middle of a one-day innings, that’s a really good focus to have,” he said. “Wickets through the middle can expose the tail.”

Yorkshire have won one, tied two and lost two of their five North Group games and desperately need to beat Northamptonshire at Wantage Road on Wednesday (1.30pm) to maintain their hopes of a top-three finish.

In the tie against Warwickshire and the one-run defeat to Lancashire, last man Poysden was charged with hitting the winning runs on both occasions and fell short.

He added: “I don’t think in any cricket in my life I’ve batted in that situation, let alone twice in three days.

“The lesson for me is that you’ve never done enough. You always have to aspire to save every run in the field because they all count.”

* A full list of fixtures for the Royal London One-Day Cup can be found here. Tickets for Yorkshire home matches can be purchased on the county’s website via this link.

Royal London One-Day Cup fixtures link: https://www.ecb.co.uk/matches/one-day-cup/fixtures

Yorkshire tickets link: https://tickets.yorkshireccc.com/Online/default.asp