Tino Best has revealed the work he has been doing to improve his action has been going well.

The West Indian pace bowler has missed the last LV= County Championship match against Nottinghamshire and four of the last five Clydesdale Bank 40 matches after developing some technical faults in his action.

The 28-year-old has been working in the Headingley nets with bowling coach Steve Oldham.

The last time the overseas star played was against Gloucestershire in the CB40 at Cheltenham on July 29, when he returned figures of 1-33 from three overs.

He said: “After the game at Gloucestershire I didn’t think my action was good enough, so I asked Martyn Moxon whether I could go back and work on it. I’m bowling quickly, but my action can be better.

“If I can’t get into the team, then I must not feel too bad. I’ve just got to keep working and hopefully get back into the 11 soon.

“I’m not going to sulk about it because I’m really humble about this opportunity to play for Yorkshire. My job is to play cricket, and also to improve on my game.

“Steve Oldham has worked with some of the best players around, like Steve Kirby and Darren Gough, and he has been a great help to me. It has been going well with him.”

Best has struggled in all forms of the game, especially against Warwickshire and Essex in the Championship recently when Andrew Gale took the new ball off him for both side’s second innings.

The West Indian believes part of the problem has been his desperation to bowl quicker and quicker, not varying his pace as much as he should do.

“I think I’m a wicket-taker, but I also want to be known as a good bowler who can bowl good lines and lengths too,” said Best.

“The pitches here are flat, and I can’t just blast somebody out all the time.”

Strange to say it, but Best’s loss of form has not been a disaster for Yorkshire. In fact, it has solved a bit of a selection issue.

The White Rose have had either one or both of England duo Tim Bresnan and Ajmal Shahzad available for the last two Championship matches and each of the last CB40 fixtures.

Best added: “When the England boys are back, we have a very strong team. Patterson has been bowling well, and bowling better lines than me.

“I can’t push him out at the moment either.”

Gale has endorsed the view that it has been tough to fit the Bajan into the team, picking out Steve Patterson’s and Rich Pyrah’s recent performance with both the red and white balls.

He said that Patterson has “been the first name on the team-sheet”, but he has backed Best to come back stronger in the near future.

It could be that Best returns to action as early as Monday when the White Rose travel to the North East to face Durham at the Riverside in a pivotal Championship encounter.


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