Yorkshire CCC’s Jonny Tattersall hoping to cash in during peak of career

There are those who hit the heights in their early 20s and then tail away from that point.

Some slip smoothly through the gears and get better with age, while others proceed on a consistent straight line.

And there are late developers who flourish in the twilight of their careers.

It takes all sorts, as the saying goes.

Jonny Tattersall is perhaps one of those who gets better in increments with each passing season.

Having already experienced the rough with the smooth, after dropping out of the county scene for a while in his early 20s, the Yorkshireman has made steady progress since, both with the bat and, more recently, with the gloves, even captaining the team when called on to do so.

At the age of 29 (he hits the big three-o in December), there is a sense of someone moving towards the summit of his powers, one keen to contribute to what he and his team-mates hope will be a County Championship promotion-winning campaign, continuing on Friday against Sussex at Hove.

“I’d like to think that I’m probably coming towards the peak of my game, and I just need to really capitalise on that,” said Tattersall.

“I just want to keep contributing to the team, with the main goal this year of trying to get out of this division.

“Obviously, I had a bit of time away (early on in my career) and then came back (to Yorkshire). My first-class debut was at 23, so I’ve been around for a lot of years but maybe not played as many games as I would have wanted in that time.”

A glance at the stats shows that Tattersall has played 56 first-class, 32 one-day and 54 T20 games, with a respectable first-class average of 33.81.

You sense that he could improve on that figure in the coming seasons, helped by a technical adjustment in the winter.

“I’ve added a bit of a trigger movement in this year to my batting, and I think that’s probably helped me be a bit more fluent, I think, and have that rhythm a bit more,” said Tattersall.

“I find I’m very much a rhythm batsman and have been throughout my career. Sometimes, when your rhythm drops a bit, you can find that you’re battling a bit out there, but that trigger has probably helped me and I’ve probably been a bit more proactive this year to try and find my strengths a bit more and put bowlers off their lines and lengths.

“I feel like I’m playing really well at the minute, and in contrast to maybe previous years gone by, I’m finding the gaps a lot more and putting those balls away.

“When I get those bad balls, I seem to be putting them away to the boundary rather than hitting two out of three to the fielders, for example.”

Tattersall hit eight deliveries to the boundary - and one over it - in a fine innings of 55 in Yorkshire’s last game against Glamorgan at Headingley.

He faced only 57 balls and outpaced even England’s Harry Brook, helping set up a second innings declaration and victory chance.

Earlier in the season, Tattersall hit 58 in the first innings of the match against Gloucestershire in Bristol, but chances have been few in a powerful top-order.

Tattersall has been batting behind Adam Lyth, Fin Bean, Shan Masood, Joe Root and Brook, all of whom posted at least one three-figure score in the opening five rounds.

“My opportunities have been slim with the line-up we’ve had, but there was a bit of a job to do (against Glamorgan) and I felt like I did it, scored at a good rate and kept applying the pressure,” he said.

“At the same time, it’s always easier when you are batting behind a lot of runs, and also when Harry’s out there because the field tends to come in for me because they like to put everyone on the boundary for Harry to stop him scoring, so it’s a bit easier for me.

“It helps when they’re worried or they’re trying to contain Harry because they know how explosive he is and how quickly he can score.

“I need to make sure I’m still ready when the opportunity comes because those guys (Brook and Root) aren’t going to be here all season, and I’m going to have to step up and score some runs in the middle and back end of the season.”

Brook has now exited stage left, in fact, as he prepares for the T20 World Cup with England, while this will be Root’s final Championship game before the Test summer starts.

“It’s down to all of us,” said Tattersall. “We’ve got to stand up as players because we can’t just rely on the England lads.

“The crunch time is - can we stand up (when they’re not there)? We need to if we want to get out of this division; we need to stand up as players and produce the goods.”