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Nick Knight: Yorkshire will come good!
Yorkshire's bid to make the Twenty Cup quarter-finals will either end in last-gasp glory or dramatic failure when they host Derbyshire this afternoon.
The Tykes are then back to LV County Championship action in Somerset next week – looking to record their first four-day win since last June.
Whichever way you look at it, these are not glorious times for the White Rose county's cricket team – for all the call-ups of youngsters Adil Rashid and Tim Bresnan to England's Ashes training squad.
However, former England ace Nick Knight is one man who certainly knows his cricket and the former frontline batsman is confident Yorkshire's Championship season will soon be back on track.
Knight is now a familiar face on Sky Sports for whom he is a valued member of their first class cricket commentary team.
The former Essex and Warwickshire ace has his finger on the pulse as far as the LV County Championship is concerned and is adamant there is no need for alarm at Headingley Carnegie.
Lose in Taunton next week and there might be – the Tykes are third bottom of the Division One table and in desperate need of their first victory in a year to kick away from the top-flight dropzone.
But Knight is unconcerned and admits he is a big fan of Martyn Moxon's side and says it is inevitable their fortunes will turn.
"Before the start of the season I quite fancied Yorkshire as outsiders to do well in the four dayers," Knight confided.
"It's been a bit of a tough test for them so far, but I still think they are a good side and they will come good.
"You look at Rashid and he is a match-winner, but you're looking for him to deliver and it's still very early days for him.
"Once everything clicks with him he will be going to bigger things.
"I like Yorkshire, I like the set up. I like Moxon as a coach and I like Anthony McGrath as a captain..
“I don’t know the ins and outs at the moment – and I am surprised to see them down there – but there is also Jacques Rudolph and he is about as prolific a batsman as you are going to get.
“I fully expect them to them it around and there is Hoggy (Matthew Hoggard) as well and it looks like he is still doing quite well, looking at his figures.
“I still think there is a lot of hope for them in the four-dayers.”
Knight retired from first class cricket in 2006 following a career that saw him play 17 Test matches and 100 one-day internationals.
In total, he amassed 16,172 runs at an average of 44.18, smashing 40 centuries.
The Watford-born ace enjoyed hugely successful spells at both Essex and Warwickshire – captaining the latter between 2003 and 2005 and leading them to the County Championship title in 2004.
His top score was a superb unbeaten 303 and his best Test innings actually came at Headingley – a knock of 111 against Pakistan in 1996.
Now 39, he called time on a glittering career at a time when the sport was vastly different to today and in those days the Twenty20 game very much in its infancy.
Knight is a big fan of the sport’s latest big craze but fears too many demands are now being placed on the modern day cricketer.
“It’s difficult and it is a real challenge actually, as there is such a lot of it,” he said.
“One minute you’re playing a one-day game, then there is the Twenty20 and then comes a whole run of Championship games.
“There are a lot of matches and it’s difficult to keep it up. The players will tell you it’s okay and it’s not a problem, but it can be quite tiring and they are tackling a whole lot of cricket in the Twenty20, one-dayers and the County Championship. There is a bit more than when I was playing, back then Twenty20 was at the experimental phase.
Impressed
“There were not the games there are now where there is a complete block of them.
“I think it’s a wonderful concept, Twenty20 cricket. It’s a wonderful tournament and a great concept but you can have too much of it and that then becomes a bad thing for the viewer and the player.
“We have got to make sure we don’t spoil what is an excellent competition.”
The shortest format of the game could yet be responsible for handing Rashid an Ashes place at just 21 after the leg-break bowler burst onto the scene after impressing for England following his Twenty20 World Cup call.
Now Rashid and team-mate Tim Bresnan – who impressed in the recent Test series against the West Indies – have been called upto the 16-man England training squad ahead of this summer’s main event.
And Knight is sure that whatever this year’s Ashes brings both have big futures on the international stage.
“The Bresnan situation is confusing me because he got a lot of runs the other day and he is obviously improving,” said Knight.
“What with how he is performing, I have him down as a one-day player at the moment, but then they have him in the Test side but not the one-day team. It’s a bit confusing. But he is still improving and I hope he can continue to do so.
“The Rashid thing has also confused me as I have got to say I was not a big fan of it when he was called into the Twenty20 set up.
“I was thinking ‘no, no, no’ but I have to say, doing what he has done – and watching him bowl in the Twenty20 – he was very impressive. There is definitely more to come from him further down the line and there is no doubting that eventually he will play for England at Test level.
“It’s about getting the timing right and we are maybe looking too far ahead but, from the way he has been playing and the way he went in the Twenty20, I am sure for the Ashes he is very much in the selectors’ thoughts.”
Knight also says both Rashid and Bresnan are in for a treat if they do represent England this summer.
“It’s everything you ever dream of when you are growing up,” he revealed. “It’s all about stages and processes really and it starts off with you just getting picked for the seconds.
“You get in so you tick off that box, and then you get in the first team so you tick off another. And you just hope you are good enough to represent your country.
“When you get that call it is just an amazing feeling – something you only dreamed because you always had your doubts and when the moment finally comes when you defy those doubts it is incredible.
“The hard part then is to stay there! That’s the really tricky bit as there so many people wanting to play for England.
“A lot of people do get picked but not many people stay there and the guys who get there and stay there for 10 or 15 years – they are the ones who have done really well.”
Whoever is selected, Knight will be one of the nation’s closest spectators as England bid to regain the Ashes over the summer– the First Test at Sophia Gardens is now just 10 days away and counting, kicking off on July 8.
Knight feels his countrymen have every chance of winning back the urn, but fears Australia’s embarrassingly premature departure from the World Twenty20 is likely to work in their favour.
He also feels spin and swing are crucial to England’s cause.
“The Aussies’ early exit from the Twenty20 is probably going to help them because they can get thinking about the Ashes and start moving forward, but I was really impressed by England winning the Test series against the West Indies,” said Knight.
“The Windies were not at their best, and you fully expected England to go and beat them, but England can only go and win against who they are playing against.
“They are full of confidence.
“I think if the ball swings, if the ball is swinging and they can get the ball rolling and reversing, I think they can rip them up. But if the ball just goes off straight they are going to struggle.
“I think spinning the ball is going to play a pivotal role and at Cardiff and Edgbaston you can get the ball turning and if England pick Graeme Swann and then one of Monty Panesar and Rashid, then they could do it.
“I expect the batting from both sides to be very good and the big thing for England is if they can get the ball spinning and swinging.”
A Knight of yesteryear just might have been useful to England’s cause in the batting department but those days are gone.
However, while admitting he misses competing in the game, the former batsman’s commentary role suits him just fine.
“I love it,” admitted Knight,. “I love the game. I loved the game when I was playing and the best thing to do now when you are not playing is to commentate and talk about it!
“You are always thinking about different aspects of the game and it’s great because you are thinking ‘why did he do that’ or ‘why did he play a shot like that?’
“It’s just very interesting to watch a game like that – when you are commentating it is double the fun!”
lee.sobot@ypn.co.uk
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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