Yorkshire Diary

Now they face possibly the worst bowling crisis in their history at a time when their batsmen are hopelessly out of touch.

The two objectives are still there but the more immediate obstacle to be cleared is getting through their Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy third round match with Devon at Exmouth on Wednesday.

Devon have already caused one shock by booting out Leicestershire in the last round and they probably fancy their chances even more against a Yorkshire side which will be without Chris Silverwood, Steve Kirby, John Blain and Ian Harvey to name but four.

Harvey, of course, will be missing because he jetted off for Zimbabwe at the weekend to join Australia for the revamped series of one-day internationals, the first of which is due to take place in Harare tomorrow.

Yorkshire will be particularly interested to note whether Harvey is fit to play in that game because when he left Headingley on Friday he was suffering from a hamstring strain which had prevented him from bowling in Nottinghamshire's second innings and also restricted his batting.

Had he not left Yorkshire until the end of May, as originally planned, there must have been some concern about his fitness for the Devon match, so it seems strange that Australia want him back for three one-day games this week when rest may have been the more sensible option.

Some may also ask why there was any need for Australia to pluck one-day cricketers from their county clubs at such short notice?

Surely the might of the Australian Test squad, already in Zimbabwe last week, should be sufficient to overpower whatever side Zimbabwe care to put out?

The cancellation of the Test series by Zimbabwe was a mixed blessing for Yorkshire because although they suddenly lost Harvey they will now get him and Darren Lehmann back much sooner than would otherwise have been the case.

If all goes according to plan - and things change so rapidly that nothing can be taken for granted - the pair should be back here in time for Yorkshire's next Championship match against Essex at Chelmsford in nine days' time instead of arriving in the middle of June.

Yorkshire will be delighted to welcome Lehmann back but the early return of Harvey, also, means that their overseas replacement batsman, Phil Jaques, will have to stand down sooner than anticipated.

This is a pity because the Australian has made a big impact in his short time with Yorkshire, his enthusiasm is infectious and he is eager to go on making as many runs as possible in order to be sure of playing Championship cricket against next year - whether for Yorkshire or someone else remains to be seen.

Yorkshire's new £240,000 state-of-the-art scoreboard at Headingley was in the process of being erected last week and will (or should) be working for the second Test between England and New Zealand.

The first glance the fans had of it was on the opening day of the Championship match with Nottinghamshire and there were plenty of puzzled faces around the ground.

On the non-computerised section of the board, below Total, Wickets, Extras and Overs Bowled, what did Removers mean?

There were various suggestions, none of which proved right.

Closer scrutinisation of the board revealed that there was a small full stop after Rem but no space before overs. Removers, therefore, was an abbreviation of Remaining overs.

"Yorkshire need a couple of Removers themselves," remarked a wag in the crowd. "One at each end of the stumps with a ball in his hand."

How right he proved to be.