McGrath puts a bad year behind him (From The Northern Echo)

McGrath puts a bad year behind him

10:00am Tuesday 20th December 2011 in Yorkshire CCC News By Graham Hardcastle

Anthony McGrath is heading into 2012 with a point to prove at Yorkshire.

The 36-year-old former England batsman has endured a "nightmare year", beset by injury problems and lack of form with the willow.

He only scored 485 runs in 12 LV= County Championship matches in 2011, posting just one hundred, one fifty and averaging 21.08.

But, with the back and knee problems seemingly behind him, he will head into the New Year with renewed confidence that he can play a crucial part in Jason Gillespie's revolution at Headingley.

He is under no illusions, however, that even getting in the team is not a certainty.

"As we've talked about before, it was a nightmare year, but things are going well at the moment," said the right-hander.

"I'm just looking forward to getting underway. I'm firstly going to try and get into the team and then score some runs afterwards.

"It would have been better if last year didn't happen, obviously, but it's made me reflect on things. I'm almost having to prove myself in some ways. It's given me that bit between my teeth, and I'm really excited about the challenge."

McGrath was a team-mate of new first-team coach Gillespie when he was at Yorkshire in 2006 and 2007 as their overseas player.

The former Australia fast bowler has just spent the week at Headingley, meeting the players, coaches and the club's office staff.

He continued: "It was good to catch up with him again. Coming over and getting stuck in, it was like he'd never been away after an hour or two.

"The lads who hadn't met him seemed to be more and more impressed with each meeting we had, so we're looking forward to getting started with him.

"We can't do too much until he comes over full-time, but he just said that he wants us to enjoy our cricket and play with that Australian mentality, which he's been part and parcel of for so long.

"He's said he's going to work us hard, especially on our fielding. He's going to make sure we're energetic in that area."

One thing that shone through when Gillespie, who is just six months older than McGrath, met the media last week was how fixed he is on preparation and how keen he is to create a culture of fun within the squad.

McGrath added: "Because he's played in that Australian structure, he's grown up that way. Somebody like Darren Lehmann was like that. Dizzy's like that old pro who likes to work hard but play hard too.

"Even when you played with him, as long as you were giving your all in training and while playing, he was quite relaxed off the field."

McGrath scored a hat-trick whilst playing in a charity football match in aid of Marie Curie Cancer and Brain Tumour Research in Bradford on Sunday.

McGrath's legends / celebrity side, including Yorkshire colleagues Ryan Sidebottom, Rich Pyrah and Oliver Hannon-Dalby, beat Fields AFC 7-3.