STEVE Patterson has spoken of his pride at leading Yorkshire in the absence of Gary Ballance.

Patterson, 34, is deputising due to Ballance’s personal problems, although the latter could return in tomorrow’s Royal London one-day Cup clash with Leicestershire at the Fischer County Ground, Grace Road, but not as captain.

It is a role which seamer Patterson has had little previous experience of, only skippering Yorkshire’s second-team and Academy on a handful of occasions.

He has led the Vikings for the first half of their one-day Cup campaign, overseeing two defeats, one win and yesterday’s washout against champions Nottinghamshire at Emerald Headingley.

“Andrew Gale came to me and said ‘You’re a senior player, you know the game very well, you understand it. Could you do it for a period of time while Gary’s not around?’,” he explained.

“I said ‘Absolutely, no problem’.

“I’m not sure (how long it will continue), and it’s not something I’ve thought about.

“I’ll keep doing it until I’m told Gary is ready and then move aside.

“It’s an honour. It’s a club I’ve played for since I was 15 or 16 years of age. It’s a long time - pretty much half my life.

“I haven’t really done captaincy before, but I’d like to think the input and support I’ve given whoever has been captain has stood me in good stead for the decisions I’ve made over the last few games.

“I’ve always been interested in the captaincy.

“It’s a funny feeling when you’re out there, having never done it before, and things are tough like they were against Worcestershire. You sometimes question yourself and wonder how much you could have done different to make the outcome better for us.

“As long as you make smart and logical decisions, you just have to accept that whatever happens happens. If you take it all to heart, it would be quite a lonely place to be.”

Patterson continued: “I’d like to think I’m a pretty logical captain and calm under pressure. I don't think I’m someone who gets flustered out in the middle.

“At this stage, with it being early doors, I’m maybe a little bit safer or more predictable than some captains would be had they done it for a long time.

“We’ve had some younger bowlers in the team, and I think you've got to try and give them the confidence. You don’t want to put extra pressure on.

“But we’ll have Liam (Plunkett) back now for the rest of the comp and if we get Dave (Willey) back, we’ll have some senior players back. We might then be in a position to get a little bit more aggressive.”

Patterson believes Yorkshire have to win three, maybe even all four, of their remaining North Group games to secure a top three finish and qualification for the knockouts.

He added: “The group on a whole is very tough.

“You look at your bigger first division counties like Notts, Lancs and Warwickshire, who are strong throughout because they have big squads.

“Then some of what you class as the smaller counties, they put a big emphasis on white ball cricket. As a result, they are very strong in this format.

“It sounds a cliche, but every game is tough, and we have to be at our best. Unfortunately, we have shown that we’ve been slightly off it and have been punished.”

Meanwhile, Yorkshire have been deducted one point in the Second XI Trophy with a further suspended penalty of half the available match points in any competition following a Cricket Discipline Commission hearing on Thursday.

The club pleaded guilty to a charge that in a Second XI Trophy match between Yorkshire and Durham earlier this month one of their players, Tom Loten, used a bat which did not meet the requirements of law five of The Laws of Cricket 2017 Code relating to bat sizes.

The decision was made after the disciplinary panel heard the player’s bat had failed an in-game bat check by the umpires on the day of the match.

The suspended penalty will be applied if any Yorkshire player is in breach of this law in any competition within 12 months from the date of the hearing in addition to any sanction imposed for the proven subsequent offence.

Loten was not charged individually in this case as he is not a registered cricketer, though eligible to play second XI cricket.

In reaching their decision the panel, which was chaired by Tim O’Gorman with Mark Milliken Smith QC and Mike Smith, noted that breaches of this law are very serious offences and this had been made clear to all First-Class Counties since the instigation of the Law.

However, they took into account Yorkshire’s guilty pleas and that the county had made efforts to ensure their players complied with the new law but on this occasion had not checked this player’s bat prior to this match, against a background of a late call-up in light of an injury to another player.

The panel wishes to re-iterate the importance of Counties ensuring that all players’ bats are compliant at all times, with particular care being needed for those called up late to a match.

No financial penalty was imposed as the Panel recognised the efforts that Yorkshire had made, but they noted that in future cases a financial penalty in addition to points deduction may be appropriate where circumstances dictate.

No order for costs was made.