by Alviro Patterson » Tue Dec 29, 2015 7:04 pm
How do you think your county will do in each major competition?
CC: 4th - the Yorkshire squad is likely to be ravaged by England call ups, making it nigh on impossible to defend the title.
Actual Result: Title winners at a canter, an unbelievable achievement considering Yorkshire were at the barebones in April. Squad availability got better from May as the season progressed and Yorkshire were at good strength.
T20: Quarter-Finals - a lot depends on the availability of Glenn Maxwell or whether Yorkshire can find a like for like replacement.
Actual Result: Group Stage, started okay but overall a very poor campaign although crowds have actually increased due to the installation of floodlights. Maxwell and Finch have not expectations, though the latter was injured.
RLODC: Quarter-Finals - potentially can go all the way, but anything goes in the knockout stages.
Actual Result: Semi-Finals - Had Yorkshire not got ravaged by international call-ups and silly ECB rules, then Yorkshire could have gone one step further.
Who will be the key player and why?
Aaron Finch - He will be the kingpin of Yorkshire's batting once the season is in full flow. Wasn't quite prolific in Twenty20 last year, although he did make two big scores in big games against Lancashire and Notts. However his red ball game exceeded expectations, giving licence to attack as a number 6 bat and scoring plenty.
Actual Result: Was injured for most of the season, replaced by Maxwell for most of the campaign. Played a couple of good CC innings and was influential in the RLODC campaign before called up by Australia for the limited overs series.
Who will be top run scorer?
CC - Alex Lees
Actual Result: Jonny Bairstow with 1100 CC runs. Lees cored 795 runs @ 33.45, not terrible but he says it's been a disappointing season.
Limited Overs - Aaron Finch
Actual Result: The Big Show racked up 312 RLODC runs in 8 innings, Finch wasn't allowed to play in the knockout stages when he was fit! Leaning scored 338 T20 Blast runs @ 42.25 with a 134 s/r.
Who will be top wicket taker?
CC - Jack Brooks
Actual Result: 65 wickets @ 22.76 with a 38.8 s/r, another excellent return. Be interesting to see if Brooks can maintain good form when bowling on test match grounds or graveyard Taunton.
Limited Overs - Richard Pyrah
Actual Result: Steven Patterson took 13 RLODC wickets, 17 year old Matt Fisher took 16 T20 Blast wickets. Pyrah barely featured in white ball cricket and when he did, he was not in usual reliable form.
Which youngster will emerge?
Jack Leaning is the next big thing. Had a good full debut season last year with the bat, averaging 39 in CC and 55 in RLODC. If he can kick on like Alex Lees did last year then the England selectors will come sniffing.
Actual Result: Started off brilliantly in the CC, though red ball form did suffer later on. T20 and One Day credentials have risen more than anything else, a batsman who can genuinely play in any format.
Biggest weakness?
Batting - the lack of depth will be shown in the first few County Championship matches, featuring a makeshift opener and a bowling all-rounder to bat at 6.
Biggest Strengths?
Plenty of bowling options, Yorkshire can two field separate attacks that won't look out of place.
Player you hope will do well?
Andrew Gale - Hasn't been prolific with the bat for a while and being made a scapegoat by the ECB for his slurs won't have helped. It would be nice to see him back amongst the runs in all formats and lead Yorkshire to more silverware.
Actual Result: Racked up 1006 runs in CC @ 40.24, though could not replicate that form in white ball cricket.
"Stats are there to be broken" Dominic Cork
"They took all our players away, banned our captain and we still came away with a ten-wicket victory" Jason Gillespie
"You won't get anywhere slouching about half out of bed" Geoffrey Boycott
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