During all the heart-searching and agonising brought about by Yorkshire's fall from grace, Matthew Wood deserves praise for his calmness and level-headedness under pressure and for his willingness to stand up and take flak even when it should not really be aimed in his direction.

When Yorkshire announced in late January that Anthony McGrath was the new captain and Wood his vice-captain it could never have been envisaged that the 26-year-old batsman would have to take charge so soon.

There was no reason to believe anything other than that McGrath would be available for most of the summer and that Wood would be there to help and advise and gradually learn the art of captaincy.

But McGrath's surprise elevation to England status, both as a Test and one-day player, has pushed Wood to the front much sooner than expected - and just at a time when Yorkshire are hurtling from one crisis to another.

Not only has Wood had to take charge during a serious slump in form but his chances of ending the bad run have been hit by misfortunes on the field entirely outside his control.

In the National League match against Glamorgan Dragons at Headingley, Ryan Sidebottom had to retire with a tight hamstring after bowling just one legitimate delivery and in the crucial Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy fourth-round game with Worcestershire, Matthew Hoggard managed three balls before limping off with a torn cartilage in his right knee.

Despite his inexperience, Wood coped very well with these sudden emergencies and in Sidebottom's case he acted quickly and decisively by pulling the bowler off in order to avoid the left-armer suffering either further injury or a loss of confidence.

In between being hit for six by Matthew Maynard, Sidebottom bowled five legside wides and Wood wisely intervened by sending him for immediate treatment and letting Vic Craven complete the over.

Wood's courage came to the fore after the bitterly disappointing defeats against Worcestershire and Durham when he accepted without question the responsibility of facing the media and trying to explain what had gone wrong.

He blamed himself for getting out to a careless shot against Worcestershire which ended a revival and he took the rap for making an error of judgement against Durham and being bowled offering no stroke.

Yet in the first game, Michael Vaughan and Yuvraj Singh also got out when more was expected of them and in the Durham debacle Wood was not guilty of succumbing to the sort of rash strokes which brought about the downfall of several of his team-mates.

Wood believes that the three-week break in Championship cricket will help to restore confidence and re-charge batteries but apart from cheering the players up it is difficult to see how Twenty20 cricket is going to help Yorkshire improve their game at first-class level.

From a personal point of view, Wood must have been glad when he was finally able to slip away from Headingley after the Durham game because he has developed a love-hate relationship with the ground since making his Yorkshire debut in 1998.

Wood has compiled six of his ten Championship centuries at the venue, including a double century, and most have them have been stunning innings to watch.

But the other side of the coin is that he has also had six Championship ducks at Headingley and bagging a pair against Durham was the second time he has achieved that dubious distinction.

Last season, he bagged a pair in the opening game with Surrey and in the next home match he was out for another duck in Yorkshire's only innings against Hampshire.

What with his own recent bad luck at headquarters and the team's wretched performances there, Wood will be mightily revealed that there isn't another Championship game on the ground until September.

Updated: 11:11 Saturday, June 07, 2003