Director of professional cricket Martyn Moxon has still not given up hope of Yorkshire qualifying for the quarter-finals of the Friends Life t20 competition.

Yorkshire lie seventh in the North Division table having played 12 of 16 group matches, and they are three points away from the all important fourth place.

Their saving grace is that they have still to play Durham, who are three points clear of them, twice before the end of the group stage.

Moxon, however, is adamant that his troops cannot afford any more slip ups ahead of tonight's clash with Leicestershire at Headingley.

He said: "I think we need to win all four now. The Nottinghamshire game (on Sunday) summed up our season. We played well in patches, but made too many mistakes. That has cost us games.

Moxon described the defeat against Notts as "a game of missed opportunities".

He, like Anthony McGrath this week, pointed to the lack of an overseas player in the ranks as one of the reasons for their struggles this term.

Notts had Tamim Iqbal and Adam Voges, while Leicester will field Australian and Pakistani all-rounders Andrew McDonald and Abdul Razzaq.

"Teams like Notts and Leicester have two overseas players, and that helps them," continued Moxon.

"We're trying to go with our own lads, which is proving hard work. But I'm sure in years to come they'll be better for this experience. We've got a lot of players who have not played a lot of t20, so we have to accept where we are."

Moxon pointed to captain Andrew Gale's progression in 20-over cricket as the blueprint for the development of other emerging players in his squad.

Gale only posted two 50s in his first 27 Twenty20 innings, but has since recorded 11 half-centuries in 34 innings, including four of those this summer.

Gale, 27, is still the only Yorkshire player to have scored a 50 in this North Division campaign.

Moxon added: "You only have to look at Galey a couple of years ago. He struggled in Twenty20. But, by playing it more and more, he has developed into a fine player in this form of the game.

"I think in the long-run this experience will be good for our younger players. They will get better from having to think about what they're doing.

"I'm confident the likes of Bairstow, Ballance and Root will do the same. They will flourish and be excellent players. But, for now, it is tough because they are still finding their feet."

Off-spinner Azeem Rafiq could miss the rest of the season following a hamstring tear. The injury he suffered on Sunday is worse than first feared, and the 20 year-old faces eight weeks out.

Left-arm spinner David Wainwright is in contention for tonight after being recalled from his loan with Derbyshire.