Adam Lyth is cricket’s man of the moment after becoming the first batsman to reach 1,000 County Championship runs for the season. GRAHAM HARDCASTLE talks to the North Yorkshire-born opener about his England ambitions.

Adam Lyth chuckled knowingly. He has been asked the same question so many times recently.

“What are your thoughts on a possible England Lions or even England call?”

The answer is what you would expect – pretty non-committal.

“If I keep doing well, there might be a chance,” he said. “But I just want to keep doing well for Yorkshire.

“My aim is to play for England, but if it doesn’t happen then I’ve got to keep scoring runs and winning games for Yorkshire.”

It would be silly for Lyth to say anything else. If he said “I’m on the verge, it will happen soon” and it did not, he would look stupid.

If he said “I’m not that bothered if it doesn’t happen” he would also look pretty foolish.

The fact that Lyth has been asked the same question time after time over the last month or so shows how far he has come in such a short space of time.

Earlier this week, the 22-year-old from Whitby was celebrating becoming the first man to reach 1,000 County Championship runs in the English summer, beating off notable competition from the prolific Mark Ramprakash among others.

He would have gone on Yorkshire’s pre-season tour to Barbados in mid-March unsure of his place in the Championship side.

But now the talk is of 1,600 four-day runs for the summer – and an outside chance of claiming a place on England’s Ashes tour this winter.

Lyth is a likeable fellow, very unassuming, but someone you could imagine has a bit of a cheeky chappy streak in him when placed into a dressing room environment.

Trying to explain his success, he said: “I got told in Barbados that I was going to be opening the batting, so that’s given me a lot of confidence.

“Galey said to me ‘do you want to open?’. I said ‘yes’ because all I want to do is play first team cricket for Yorkshire.

“I didn’t really get a chance last year to play much in the Championship, but I played a lot of one-day stuff.

“I just think Andrew Gale’s given me the confidence to go out and play my natural game and open the batting.”

Gale, like Lyth, has come in for plenty of praise since taking over the captaincy at Headingley.

“You just want to do well for him because he’s a nice lad,”

continued Lyth. “He wants us all to do well too.”

Lyth scored 220 runs in only four Championship matches last summer, but played 11 one-day matches and scored a hundred at Scarborough in a Pro40 division two match against Sussex.

He has spent time during the last two winters at Darren Lehmann’s Academy in Adelaide and the ECB’s Performance Programme camp in Pretoria.

The first thought is that something must have changed technically. “Nope! I’ve not changed anything,” he said. “My stance, my grip, nothing’s changed.”

So, what has caused the sudden surge of runs? “I think it’s just a case of knowing my game a little bit more. I’m a bit more experienced now.”

Despite admitting his ideal position in Yorkshire’s batting order would be either number three or four, he has a pretty simple method to facing the new ball.

He explained: “I leave the ball well, which is what you need to do as an opening batsman, then I cash in when the ball is either dropped short or pitched full. That’s my game plan, and it’s worked so far.”

Jacques Rudolph, a regular scorer of 1,000 runs-plus in a summer, has already told him to not settle for just 1,000 runs. He should be aiming for far more.

“I don’t think I’ll get to 2,000, but I’m aiming for something around the 1,600 mark.”

Lyth is not the only Yorkshire batsman in good form, though. He is joined by Rudolph and Anthony McGrath as division one’s leading run scorers. McGrath has scored 50 or more in ten out of his last 11 innings.

There is not just competition from outside the Yorkshire dressing room to keep driving Lyth on to bigger and better things.

“I’m going to fail at some point,” he said. “I just hope it’s not too soon. I’m an opening batsman, and I’m going to get good balls. That’s the game.

“But as long as I don’t get out to them, that’s the key.”

Cricket is a simple game. One Lyth is mastering pretty well at the moment. Long may it continue.


Have your say

Is Yorkshire’s Adam Lyth ready to step up to international cricket?