Time to shine

Both left-handers made disappointing starts to their Yorkshire careers, but Yuvraj has since shown that he has undoubtedly got star quality while the ability of the New Zealand captain has never been in doubt.

Yuvraj came to Yorkshire as replacement for Australian Matthew Elliott, who had to return home due to a combination of injury and personal reasons, and the 21-year-old Indian took a time to settle.

This was because he felt below par for the first few weeks owing to a severe cold which made it even harder for him to acclimatise to the English weather and get used to the different pitches.

His batting and confidence visibly improved as each game went by and perhaps the Twenty20 Cup came just at the right time to allow him to express himself and move into top gear.

During these matches, Yuvraj has played some stunning strokes, most of them on the ground.

It now surprises no-one that he was capable of that heroic innings of 69 in last summer's NatWest Series final when his stand of 121 in less than 18 overs with Mohammad Kaif rescued India from 146 for five and sped them to a 326 victory target with two wickets to spare.

Yuvraj has captivated Twenty20 spectators with stunning strokeplay which brought him 154 runs in the five group matches, with 26 fours and two sixes.

He would have been a strong candidate for the £1,500 prize for hitting the most boundaries in the competition had Yorkshire been able to reach the semi-finals.

The modest Indian also looked the part last Sunday with a National League half-century against Leicestershire which came off 44 balls and contained seven fours and a six.

Yorkshire would now like to see him building some substantial innings in Championship cricket.

Yuvraj wants to do that, not only to help his adopted county rise up the table but because he knows that big scores will improve his own game at first class level.

That is the reason why Yuvraj decided on a summer of Championship cricket.

Although he has played in 73 one-day internationals for India, he has yet to make his Test debut and long stays at the crease with Yorkshire will help to fulfil that ambition.

Personal improvement was also behind Fleming's decision to come to Yorkshire, although he has little fresh to learn about the game after having earned himself the reputation of being the best of the current batch of Test captains.

He admits, however, that he went through a thin patch about 18 months ago and changed some aspects of his technique in order to get out of it.

"I have been very happy with the way things have gone recently, but now that I have joined Yorkshire I will have the opportunity to cement some of those changes and make them a natural part of my game," he said.

Regardless of class, no batsman is guaranteed runs though - particularly when he has just travelled half way round the world to join a new club.

Fleming's introduction to Yorkshire cricket was probably worse than any other batsman in the club's history. In three Twenty20 innings he had two ducks and four and survived for a total of just four legitimate balls.

He made amends in his fourth innings, with 58 runs off 35 balls, including ten fours and a six.

But he also badly bruised his big toe through a blow on his boot end and had to sit out the National League game with Leicestershire.

Fleming is almost sure to rattle up the runs in the Championship but the only pity is that he will miss the last three matches as he has to return home early to prepare for New Zealand's tour of India later in September.

New Zealand want him back earlier than the other players in the squad because as captain he has planning responsibilities. But Yorkshire's director of cricket, Geoff Cope, might be able to persuade them to let him stay one game longer if it turns out their promotion chances could depend upon the result.

Updated: 15:11 Friday, June 27, 2003