Yorkshire need to fight for every point (From York Press)

Yorkshire need to fight for every point

11:15am Saturday 21st July 2012 in Sport

Stand-in captain Phil Jaques says Yorkshire need to fight for every point in their bid for County Championship promotion, including the one more bonus point on offer against Derbyshire at sodden Chesterfield today.

It was a familiar story for Jaques and company yesterday as day three was abandoned at 9am due to persistent rain and an incredibly boggy outfield.

Play for today’s final day is therefore unlikely to start on time, if at all. Replying to Yorkshire’s first-innings 219, Derbyshire are 135-7.

“Every point is going to be crucial this season, so we’ve got to try to get as much cricket as we can and as many bonus points as we can,” said Jaques, who is accustomed to hot and dry Australian summers.

“There’s a real chance to get an extra point here if we get an hour or two hours in.

“If there’s an opportunity to set up games, we’ve got to try to do that. But even the most creative minds couldn’t come up with a scenario on this ground.

“I think we’ve had more days lost here this summer than I’ve had in my whole career playing in Australia.

“We had a wet summer last year, but we get big downpours back home and then it stops pretty quickly. It very rarely rains, rains, rains. This has just been unbelievable. I can’t get my head around it.”

Yorkshire have now lost just over 1,600 overs in the Championship, and the fear that their promotion bid will be scuppered by the weather is growing.

“There’s always that danger, but we’ve just got to concentrate on the cricket side of things,” admitted the left-handed batsman.

“There’s still a lot of cricket to play, so I don’t think it’s time to panic.

“We’ve got to play Derbyshire again and quite a few of the teams below us. Hopefully we can get on the park and get on a run of wins.”

Weather permitting, Yorkshire return to Clydesdale Bank 40 action against Derbyshire at Chesterfield tomorrow.

They are fifth out of seven in Group ‘C’ with seven matches still to play in their bid for top spot and a semi-final berth.