Cricket: Steve Patterson's captaincy credentials have always been evident at Yorkshire says Kane Williamson

Kane Williamson says Steve Patterson's captaincy credentials have always been evident inside the Yorkshire dressing room.
Steve PattersonSteve Patterson
Steve Patterson

The New Zealand skipper’s early impressions of the White Rose seamer’s rise to the role in place of Gary Ballance have been positive.

Patterson took on the job on an interim basis at the start of the Royal London one-day Cup campaign in May and then permanently in mid-June.

Kane WilliamsonKane Williamson
Kane Williamson
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Williamson has been with Yorkshire for approximately a month as the club’s overseas batsman. It is his fourth spell at Emerald Headingley.

“Patto’s always been a leader in the group,” said the 27-year-old.

“He’s certainly the same guy that I remember from a few years ago. When he speaks, people listen.

“He’s always very calm under pressure.

“Those are really good traits as a captain, and he’s been doing a great job.”

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Prior to this season, Patterson’s captaincy experience was limited, and he had never done it at first-team level.

During the last two months, he has captained the White Rose in all formats.

He guided them to the semi-finals of the one-day Cup, has won one, drawn one and lost one in the Championship and has helped them into a useful position heading into the final stages of their Vitality Blast North Group campaign.

Ahead of Thursday’s home Roses clash, Williamson said: “We’ve faced so many different experiences even in the short time that I’ve been here when you think back to that Roses games that we lost and then won and then the tight one at Chesterfield.

“There’s been all ends of the spectrum.

“But Patto’s making some very good decisions.

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“At times he’s asked some questions and bounced ideas off me, which is cool.

“At the end of the day, it’s important he runs on his gut instinct. When you do that and go with your own brand, it’s the best chance to learn and reassess if it goes wrong and run with it if goes well.”

And on the specific challenges of leading in T20, Williamson added: “You’re always under pressure in every game that you play, especially in T20, and you’re trying to think on your feet.

“Captaining in this format is new for him, and he’ll have learnt a lot. But he’s doing a very good job.”

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Yorkshire have now won six and lost four from their 10 North Group outings and sit into the top four quarter-final qualifying places.

The Vikings endured a mixed week of results last week.

After losing back-to-back games against Derbyshire, they beat Leicestershire and Northamptonshire at Headingley on Tuesday and Friday.

Their next match is against Lancashire at a sold out Headingley on Thursday evening.

Yorkshire will be looking to gain revenge over the Red Rose, who beat them by one run in a thrilling 14-over aside clash at Old Trafford last month.

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Coach Andrew Gale added: “Everyone’s beating everyone, seemingly in both divisions.

“If you’re not quite on it, you’ll come unstuck.

“We have to make sure we stay level and don’t get too far ahead of ourselves even though we are in a good position at the moment.

“You’re always going to look back over the competition and think ‘We could have got over the line there and there’.

“We could have got over the line at Old Trafford, and we should have done at Chesterfield. But you can’t dwell on that. We’ve just got to look forward.

“Thursday should be another good game. They always are, Roses games.”