MARTYN Moxon is hoping regular cricket for David Willey in this summer's NatWest T20 Blast can spark an upturn in fortunes for the dynamic Yorkshire all-rounder.

Willey has endured a stop-start season and a half since joining the White Rose county from home club Northamptonshire, where he returns for tonight's televised Blast clash (6.30pm).

Since leaving Wantage Road, Willey has only played 32 times for Yorkshire across all forms through injury, international duty and selection. He has hit 549 runs and taken 41 wickets.

Willey has shown glimpses of his undoubted talent, scoring two half-centuries – both in the Blast last year against Northants and Glamorgan.

He also hit 25 and 42 from number three in Yorkshire's first two Blast matches during the last week against Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

The left-armer bowled well in early-season Championship matches at Warwickshire and Hampshire and deserved more reward than his four wickets.

But otherwise, this summer has been a frustrating one, given he only played one of three ODIs for England against South Africa in May and missed out on selection for all subsequent Champions Trophy games.

Yet Moxon is confident that 27-year-old Willey will find his range during a prolonged county stint until England's next limited-overs assignment against the West Indies in mid-September.

"Dave's had a couple of good T20 games in the last few days and he's a big player for us," said Yorkshire director of cricket Moxon.

"But he's not been playing regularly. He's not batted this season really until now. It's very difficult not to get any real match innings and then come and smack it everywhere in T20.

"That's what he needs – regular cricket. The more he plays, the better Dave gets. We saw that last year. When he plays regularly, he's an outstanding cricketer, but it's not easy when your season's stop-start.

"It's difficult for any cricketer when he's not playing regularly to get that rhythm with bat and ball.

"The Champions Trophy comes along, which is great to be a part of, but if you're not playing, it's then hard to pick things up mid-season. It's just circumstance and I don't know what we can do about it."

Willey won the T20 Blast with Northants in 2013, picking up the man-of-the-match award in the final against Surrey when he took a hat-trick.

He is aiming for a fifth career Finals Day appearance this summer and it would be his second with Yorkshire after last year's semi-final defeat to Durham.

Yorkshire and Northants have both won one and lost one in this summer's North Group. While Yorkshire beat Notts on Friday and lost to Derbyshire on Saturday, the defending champions lost to Derbyshire on Friday and beat Durham on Sunday.

Moxon said: "There's a lot of good stuff we've done with the batting and bowling. We know our plans, now we've just got to stick to them and believe in them.

"If we play to our capabilities over 14 games, we'll be okay. We've got all bases covered on paper – but as you know, we don't win on paper because there are no easy games.

"I think it's an exciting top order. We know if we come off again together like we did against Notts, we're going to get a lot of runs. Players have got to keep trusting that.

"We've not got to worry too much about Derbyshire and move on. Keep the faith."

Yorkshire (from): Bresnan (capt), Coad, Fisher, Handscomb (wkt), Kohler-Cadmore, Leaning, Lyth, Marsh, Patterson, Rafiq, Rashid, Waite, Willey.