Yorkshire know they are at the point of no return when it comes to their Yorkshire Bank 40 campaign.
They head into tomorrow’s clash with Group C leaders Gloucestershire at Headingley second bottom of the group having only won once in four matches.
First-team coach Jason Gillespie has often stated that the White Rose are targeting silverware in the LV= County Championship, in particular, and the Friends Life t20.
The former Australian fast bowler does not hide away from the fact that their performances in matches against Glamorgan, Somerset, the Unicorns and Middlesex last Monday have just not been good enough.
And he last night agreed with the suggestion that the Vikings will have to win their last eight matches to keep their hopes of semi-final qualification alive come September.
“Absolutely,” he said. “We just haven’t played very good cricket in that competition, and we aren’t shying away from that. We know we need to put together some better scores, but I suppose the big thing has been our bowling.
“Adil Rashid has bowled well, but our seam bowling has let us down. The lads know it. We’ve had good chats about it, and we need to improve all our skills.”
Despite the desperation for a win, Gillespie will continue to rest his most prized fast bowling assets.
Ryan Sidebottom and Steve Patterson will sit out the match, with Wednesday’s LV= County Championship clash with Nottinghamshire at Scarborough in mind: “We’re putting our Bentley in the garage for the weekend,” quipped Gillespie in reference to Sidebottom.
“Patto, we call him our (Toyota) Prius. He’s our nice dependable car.”
The pair’s absence means that 19-year-old Academy seamer Ben Coad is in contention to debut.
Second XI coach Paul Farbrace added: “Ben’s a right-arm seamer in the Steve Patter-son mould. He’s your workhorse who will bowl you 25 overs a day without bowling any rubbish.”
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