AS well as working hard to improve my batting during the winter, something else I concentrated on was trying to make myself a better slip catcher.

Fielding in the slips is something I’ve done a lot of during my career, and it’s a part of the game I’ve always enjoyed.

Fielding there is a specialist skill, and it seems to be going quite well at the minute, with myself at first and Jack Leaning at second taking almost all of the chances that have come our way during the first couple of County Championship matches against Worcestershire and Nottinghamshire.

The main thing if you’re in the slips is confidence. You want the ball to come to you, and you can’t afford to be unsure. If that is your approach, you will catch more than you drop.

It is vital that you have a couple of decent slip catchers in your team because chances can be quite rare.

At the minute, myself and Jack are in there, but we have to keep catching well.

Adam Lyth is a brilliant slipper, and we have him to come back into the team after our Championship match against Warwickshire at Headingley, which starts tomorrow.

As an opening batsman fielding in the slips, you have to be able to divide the two areas of the game.

There are times when you think about your batting while in the field, but when the bowler is running in, you have to be switched on and you can’t afford to think about anything else.

It’s the same principle when you’re captaining the side as well, even though there are a lot of other things going through your mind.

But I’ve never once thought about coming out of the slips when I’m captaining a side.

On other matters, I hear that Dickie Bird has tipped me to be a future England captain.

I don’t know about that!

Listening to Dickie, he believes there should be 11 Yorkshiremen playing in the England team, so I wouldn’t read too much into it.

I enjoy captaincy, and the Yorkshire side was an enjoyable one to lead for the couple of matches I was in charge while Andrew Gale was unavailable.

We’re a group of professional lads, everyone knows what’s expected of them, and the ship almost steers itself.

But my only focus is scoring runs for Yorkshire and helping them to win some more matches.

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