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Moxon: Only Yorkshire's best will do now
Director of cricket Martyn Moxon feels Yorkshire need two victories this weekend to stop their Twenty20 Cup bid disappearing down the plughole.
The Tykes were sitting pretty in second spot following a fine start to the competition, but defeats to Nottinghamshire and Durham this week have seen them drop to fourth place in North Division, level on points with Leicestershire and Durham who are second and third respectively.
Yorkshire visit Leicestershire tonight before ending the group stage with Sunday's clash against bottom side Derbyshire at Headingley Carnegie.
With the top two plus the two best third-placed teams qualifying, Moxon feels back-to-back victories are needed to put the Tykes in the last-eight.
Long-term, Moxon admits the club could lose both Matthew Hoggard and Ajmal Shahzad who are interesting Worcestershire – but of more pressing concern is progression to the Twenty20 Cup quarter-finals.
"We've kind of made it difficult for ourselves and we tend to do that a little bit," admitted Moxon.
"The pleasing thing is that we have still got an opportunity to go through if we win our last two games. Hopefully, we can do that.
"I think we have got to win both games and we will set out to try and do that."
Strengthen
The games continue to come thick and fast for Yorkshire with the Tykes back in LV County Championship action in Somerset next Tuesday when they will be seeking their first four-day win since last June.
Paceman Hoggard has taken the most championship wickets this season with 15, but both he and rising talent Shahzad could be set to join a Worcestershire side who are looking to strengthen their bowling department with doubts over the future of knee-injury victim Simon Jones.
Both players have been offered new deals at Headingley Carnegie and Moxon admits they would be missed.
"We wouldn't be offering them a new contract if we didn't want them to stay," said Moxon. “That says it all.
“With the contract rules they have, Worcestershire are quite within their rights to send a letter if the players have not agreed terms with the county.
“Both of our players have had offers from us but Worcestershire are quite within their rights to write a letter and to have the option of speaking to them within 28 days.
“We’ll have to wait and see what happens.”
On the flip side, Yorkshire have been linked with a move for Worcestershire’s unsettled England one-day wicketkeeper Steve Davies, whose contract expires at the end of the season.
Moxon says talk of Davies’ possible signature is premature.
“We may not speak to him and again it’s just keeping our options open with regards to keepers,” he added.
“When a quality player becomes available, I think we need to be in the market place as it were but at this stage we may not even speak to the player.
“We have our options – we currently have three keepers on our staff and over the next month we will decide which way we go with that.”
lee.sobot@ypn.co.uk
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Weather for Leeds
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
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Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
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