OTIS GIBSON has noted that there is a “strong possibility” that York star Matthew Fisher features in Yorkshire’s last game of the season against Gloucestershire if his recovery goes to plan.

Fisher, who was born in York, has been struggling with a back injury for much of the year, having initially been ruled out for four weeks at the end of April.

The Sheriff Hutton Bridge product’s injury came just a week after he made his full debut in both Test and international cricket against the West Indies.

When asked if Fisher could feature in a Yorkshire team before the season concludes, Gibson replied: “Potentially, yes. That’s the plan.

“I have to commend our medical team. They’ve done a fantastic job with him and his progress back onto the field.

“We put together a back to play plan for him, which involved a lot of what you saw him doing this week (bowling in the middle and sub-fielding).

“I have to admit that when I see him bowling, I get excited and think, ‘To me, he looks like he’s ready’.

“I keep saying to the physios, ‘Back in the day when we didn’t have all this sports science and a coach saw a guy bowl this much, he would be straight back in the team.’

“But there’s been a process around how we manage him. He’s going to go and play at Blackpool next week.

“We want him to get a lot of time on his feet, but we’ll still manage how many overs he bowls. He won’t be bowling 25 overs in a day. He will try and manage somewhere between 10 and 15 in a day.

“If he comes through that, then depending how things go, maybe Surrey might be too soon.

“But, definitely, if everything goes well in Blackpool, there’s a strong possibility he could play the last game (Gloucestershire).”

In their latest outing, Yorkshire drew with Lancashire in a Roses clash in the LV = County Championship.

“We’ll take the draw, but the feeling is that we didn’t do enough in the game to get ourselves more into it,” reflected Gibson.

“I’m proud of the lads with the way we batted today. Another team could have capitulated today.

“The way Tom (Kohler-Cadmore) played, Will (Fraine) and Fin (Bean), I think he’s had a very good debut.

“Even though Fin didn’t go on and get a hundred or a fifty, he faced a lot of balls and spent a lot of time in the middle.

“Those innings will do the world for him going forwards into the rest of the season.

“To have walked away with a draw, whether you think we deserved it or not, we’ll take it.

“Today, we didn’t want to be batting to try and draw the game. The initial talk was, ‘Let’s try and be positive and see how we can keep the scoreboard moving.

‘See where we are at tea. If we played nicely enough, scored runs, it gives ourselves a chance to chase 130 in the last session.’

“But they bowled nicely. Once (Adam) Lythy got out, Fin played the way he played and we had to sit in.”