"Not only does the 30-year-old pace bowler want to secure his place at what would be his third senior 50-over World Cup but he also wants to keep himself in the bowling groove in case he is called upon to play some first-team cricket for Yorkshire this summer. " Link to story

I hope people actually read Blain's quotes before they jump to any conclusions

>> I would love to play; I would do anything to help out the club. We have already discussed that, said Blain, prior to leaving Yorkshires pre-season tour of the United Arab Emirates to head for Johannesburg.

When you look at the amount of bowlers at this club, you can see that there are quite a few ahead of me. First and foremost, my main role at the club is a coach.

It is a bit of an unsaid thing that all of the other guys are ahead of me, but if there are any problems then I could step in. I am confident in what I do. < <br>

I'm disappointed that Graham Hardcastle would look to mis-represent a player by giving his quotes the headline 'Blain keeping fingers crossed for Yorkshire comeback', as if he's hoping for the other players at the club to fail/get injuries so he can play. He says nothing of the sort - the closest he comes is the first line where he says 'he'd love to play', but he goes on to explain why that's extremely unlikely to happen. All he's doing is confirming what we've been told already. If he was really being considered for an actual recall ahead of other players, then he would have played in one of the Pro-Arch games.

This sort of journalism really annoys me - trying to turn a complete non-story into something controversial.

Good point, Rey. I've adjusted the headline on the WRF homepage to better reflect the essence of the story. Thanks for the reality check.

Alex

Thanks to Rey for his excelent comments .... the most probable way for Blain to play is if the 'established' bolwers are injured & we need someone on the field to help out 'the young lads'.

Does anyone know where John Blain lives in Scotland. Not his address, just the city/town?

Remember that at one point last year we had Hoggard, Gough, Rana, Morkel, Shahzad and I think Patterson all injured! Strength in depth in the bowling department is essential for a team to survive the rigours of the English county season. Even with a few young 'uns ready to step up, Blain may well get a chance.

I think you may be overegging things slightly as we would not have been able to play both Rana and Morkel together for starters.

However, an interesting scenario will be how Blain bowls in the Scotland team in SA as if he does well and has some fitness and form then he may come into the mix.

Up to Sayers scoring some runs in the Pro Arch we might also have been interested in another old boy scoring runs opening the batting for the Jocks - Gavin Hamilton

Not overegging at all TC. Rana was injured at the start of the season so we brought Morkel in as cover - and he got injured almost immediately. Hoggard broke a thumb and Gough was, well, Gough. Two of the 2nd XI back-ups (Shahzad and Patterson) were also injured at this time. It did give 1st XI opportunities to Sanderson, Hannon-Dalby and Pyrah though.

my point is YC, that we could not have played them both in the same team at the same time. If Rana was fit and available then we would never have had Morkel.

Gough was more lacking fitness rather than injured and Shahzad always seems to be injured justg as his chance comes along for a first team game!

Well looks like he cannot even get in the Scotland team now as he is not in the line up for todays match v Ireland so his prospects of playing for Yorkshire are further diminished.

Old boy Hamilton opened for the Jocks and was out for 1.