IF Yorkshire's popular batsman, Matthew Wood, re-discovers his true form this season, then Kevin Sharp, Rodney Marsh and Michael Vaughan can all take a bit of the credit for putting his career back on track.

Wood appeared to have put a long spell in the wilderness behind him in 2001 when he topped 1,000 Championship runs for the first time and made a large contribution towards Yorkshire winning the title for the first time in 33 years.

But his first-class form fell apart at the seams last summer and the 26-year-old Huddersfield-born opener had lost his place in the side by mid-August.

"By then the season was drawing to a close for Yorkshire Seconds and it was too late on to play for Honley in the Huddersfield League so I felt pretty left out of things," said Wood.

"Not only was I disappointed at being dropped but the fact that there was no cricket to play at all meant my season came to an abrupt end. What made me even more depressed was that Yorkshire were not playing well either and we were obviously heading for relegation.

"I took a few weeks away from cricket in order to reflect where I had gone wrong and then just before Christmas I decided to seek out Kevin Sharp for a chat. Kevin was still director of coaching at Bradford-Leeds Universities' Centre of Excellence then and neither of us had any idea that later in the winter he would be appointed Yorkshire's batting coach.

"We immediately hit it off together and Kevin was really helpful which did a lot to restore my confidence. I began to think I would be better off going abroad in the New Year in order to play in grass nets and I wrote to Rodney Marsh, who is in charge of the England Academy in Adelaide where I had spent the previous winter.

"I asked if he would mind me joining up with the present England squad if I met my own costs and he said 'Get on the next plane out here'. I was soon mucking in with the lads and the cricket which I played at the Academy has really benefited me in the build-up to the new season.

"Last but certainly not least, Michael Vaughan has actually come in to Headingley during his own rest time in order to help one or two of the batsmen and he spent a whole morning with me on a one-to-one basis.

"I think it is marvellous that the most successful Test batsman in the world last year should take the trouble to come to Headingley unannounced and willingly assist his Yorkshire team-mates.

"Every summer is an important one for a first-class cricketer but this is a particularly big one for me. Last year the season just slipped away from me but now I am fully refreshed and determined to make some big scores and get back into the groove."

Updated: 10:20 Thursday, April 10, 2003