Yorkshire are concentrating all their efforts on avoiding relegation in the LV= County Championship.

Tomorrow’s Clydesdale Bank 40 trip to face the Netherlands at the VRA ground on the outskirts of Amsterdam is for nothing other than pride after five defeats from their seven Group ‘A’ matches so far.

A 76-run defeat against Sussex at Hove on Wednesday all but ended their chances of reaching the semi-finals for the second year running.

And all eyes will now focus on their remaining five four-day matches, starting with Tuesday’s meeting with bottom side Hampshire at the Rose Bowl.

“Staying up in division one is our main aim now,” said captain Andrew Gale, whose side lost their first 40-over fixture of the summer to the Netherlands by two runs at Headingley as they failed to chase 191. “I would imagine we are out of the CB40. It means we can be more experimental for the remaining fixtures in the competition, but it’s still a difficult balancing act.

“We’ve obviously got to rest players for the Championship. But, at the same time, a lot of the players are still learning their games. We need to give them some exposure to one-day cricket.”

A stronger squad than you might have expected will fly across the North Sea today, with only Ryan Sidebottom and overseas batsman Jacques Rudolph sitting out the trip from the Sussex match.

Joe Root and Iain Wardlaw have both been named in the party as their replacements. It means Sidebottom and Rudolph will make their own way down to Southampton, along with wicketkeeper Gerard Brophy and Anthony McGrath.

First choice ’keeper Jonny Bairstow and Root will then link up with the England Lions squad at Scarborough on Monday.

One man who will almost certainly play against the Dutch is left-arm spinner David Wainwright.

Wainwright has had a tough season, seemingly falling behind off-spinner Azeem Rafiq in the Headingley pecking order and all set for a loan spell with Derbyshire before Rafiq tore a hamstring earlier this month.

But the 26-year-old impressed alongside Adil Rashid to put the brakes on the Sussex middle order on Wednesday when they had looked well set to take the game completely out of Yorkshire’s reach.

He had Murray Goodwin caught and bowled and bowled Luke Wells on the way to figures of 2-37 from his eight overs as Sussex posted 246 when it could have been more following a good start.

And Gale believes the ex-England Lions man has a big part to play until the end of the summer.

“With Rafiq injured, it’s now a challenge for him to earn the right to be in the first team,” said the skipper. “Wainers bowled really well at Sussex. I would imagine the pitches we’re going to play on will be more conducive to spin between now and the end of the season, so he can still be a big player for us.”

With recent pitches turning at the Rose Bowl, it would not be a surprise to see Wainwright play there too.