Steven Kirby, by his own admission, is 'as mad as a hatter' but - as he also points out - that does not mean to say he has nothing between his ears.

Many a batsman has already paid the penalty for believing that Kirby's glares and stares were mere buffoonery only then to find a stump ripped out by a great delivery or an edged shot finishing up in the hands of the slips.

Only three weeks ago, Kirby was down in the dumps and devastated that the recurrence of a back injury had delayed his return for the day-night match with Durham and threatened to bring a premature end to his season.

But following an injection on the advice of a specialist, Kirby recovered in time to play in the Roses clash at Old Trafford and his whole-hearted bowling had much to do with Yorkshire winning their first match of the season to ignite hopes that relegation may yet be avoided.

Of course, Kirby being Kirby meant that there were several amusing moments both on and off the field but at a time when so many cricketers take themselves far too seriously his sunny disposition comes like a breath of fresh air to the county circuit.

Kirby had everyone rolling around during the Roses match when he was being interviewed on television by David Lloyd, the former Lancashire and England batsman, who went on to become the England coach before taking that well-trodden path for sports stars into the media.

Lloyd is almost universally known by his nickname of 'Bumble' so it came as something of a surprise to him when Kirby addressed him in the interview as 'Womble'.

He'd been deliberately misled by his team-mates into believing that 'Bumble' was 'Womble' and the dressing room was in uproar when the interview was taking place during the lunch interval.

Kirby can be so funny at times that I am reliably informed he even had Bob Willis in stitches at one stage, although I find that a bit hard to believe.

Another entertaining moment at Old Trafford, although the other Yorkshire players did not find it so at the time, came when Kirby misfielded a drive at mid-on from Alec Swann and charged after the ball with Vic Craven also in pursuit a few yards behind.

Kirby got there first and flipped the ball back before he slid over the rope from where he stretched out his arm and flicked the ball closer to Craven to speed up the return. But with Kirby over the boundary edge it became a four as soon as he made contact and realising his mistake he lay prone on his back for several seconds while the enormity of his error sank it.

Although Kirby's behaviour is unpredictable, he admits that a lot of his verbal jousting with batsmen is no more than a mind game in which he tries to gain the upper hand and it was hardly surprising in early June when he became the first player to receive three penalty points under the new disciplinary code after hurling the ball at Leicestershire's Darren Maddy.

But Kirby insists that he has learned from that mistake and certainly during the Roses match and when back at Grace Road on Sunday he never stepped over the line - except when fielding that ball.

There is little doubt in my mind that if Kirby were ever to play for England he would become a huge personality overnight because genuine characters are in short supply and Kirby has definitely got celebrity potential.

But he does take his cricket very seriously and it came as a bombshell to him when he broke down in mid-June with the back injury which was to keep him out for the next couple of months.

"After doing so well upon joining up with Yorkshire in the middle of last season and then getting invited to the England Academy in Australia I was really looking forward to making further progress this summer," he said.

"Then to see England squads being chosen for various competitions, including next month's ICC tournament in Sri Lanka, and not to be playing at all was really frustrating.

"When you are doing well there are always plenty of people around to slap you on the back but you can feel pretty lonely when you are sidelined and not involved in the action."

Every cricketer goes through a bad patch at some time or other and hopefully Kirby is over his now.

If he needs to convince himself of his value to Yorkshire he need only look at his record since arriving so sensationally in the middle of last season. He was signed in mid-match to replace Matthew Hoggard, who had been taken out of the team to join up with England.

After taking 7-50 on his debut in the second innings of the Kent match, he went on to finish as Yorkshire's leading bowler in the Championship with 47 wickets at only 20.85 runs apiece.

When he broke down this time, he was also in front with 19 wickets and now he has 23 victims from half a dozen games at an average of 29.04.

Although Kirby may sometimes act the clown he is certainly nobody's fool when it comes to bowling.

Class act McGrath closes in on finale

Anthony McGrath has suddenly become one of the most versatile and important members of the Yorkshire side, so don't be too surprised if he hits the headlines on at least two fronts next week.

He is in the sort of batting form which should see him score the 58 runs against Hampshire at their new Southampton ground which he needs to complete 5,000 first class runs for Yorkshire.

And a week today he will be quietly confident of making a major contribution in the final of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy against Somerset at Lord's.

Although Gary Fellows took the lion's share of the credit for helping to win the Roses match with his maiden century, it was McGrath's innings of 86 which showed true class and he would most probably have cantered to a second century of the season against Lancashire if he had not been unluckily run out - Fellows' straight drive deflected into the stumps off bowler Glen Chapple's hand.

Then McGrath exhibited his quality strokes and cool style once again in the Norwich Union League when he scored 86 off Leicestershire Foxes' attack and rescued Yorkshire from the doldrums of one run for four wickets with a 178-stand for the fifth wicket with centurion Matthew Elliott.

It is quite absurd that injuries and losses of form have so far prevented a batsman of McGrath's undoubted class from scoring 1,000 first class runs in a season, but he can do it this time if he maintains his present standards.

He currently stands on 631 runs for an average of 33.21 and he has four Championship games remaining in which to score the 369 required to reach four figures.

It was, of course, McGrath's sparkling 72 not out, along with Fellows' equally splendid unbeaten 68, which was almost entirely responsible for making it beyond the quarter-final stages of the C&G Trophy.

In that game at Chelmsford, Yorkshire were floundering on 155-5 in reply to Essex's 283 until McGrath and Fellows came together to pile up an unbroken 128 which levelled the final scores and sent Yorkshire through by virtue of losing fewer wickets.

McGrath received the man-of-the-match award for that innings and I won't be too surprised if he pulls it off again in the big one at Lord's.

But it's not only McGrath's batting that has made him such a key member of the Yorkshire side over the past few weeks.

His medium-pacers have been increasingly used to good effect and his ten Championship wickets to date have come at 27.3 runs apiece which is a lower average than any of his colleagues.

They have shot his career tally up to 26 and none of his wickets have given him greater pleasure than the dismissal of former captain, David Byas, in the Roses match.

Byas certainly did not want to get out to someone he considers a part-time bowler and his face visibly reddened as he walked to the pavilion.

In the field too McGrath is making his mark. His catch at mid-wicket to get rid of Lancashire dangerman Stuart Law was as good as you will ever see.

Consistency has been a long time coming for McGrath but now that he has it let us hope it is here to stay.

Updated: 11:12 Saturday, August 24, 2002