First impressions are not necessarily the best . When Adam Lyth scratched around for 22 in a Championship match against Nottinghamshire in 2008 , Graeme Swann branded him a ‘ walking wicket ’ . ‘ But then , ’ Swann added . ‘ He proved us all wrong. ’ Lyth , one of six Yorkshire players in the England squad that left Heathrow on Thursday for three Tests in the Caribbean , hit back in that match seven years ago with a second-innings of 132 . Wisden later called him ‘ the find of the season ’ . Yorkshire 's Adam Lyth fields during day three of the Champion County match against the MCC . Now he finds himself competing with Jonathan Trott to be Alastair Cook ’ s opening partner at the first Test in Antigua on April 13 . It has been quite a rise . ‘ I was over the moon when I was told about my selection , ’ he told Sportsmail . ‘ I can ’ t wait to get going. ’ The story of Lyth ’ s ascent , from a talented but inconsistent left-hander to the ballast behind Yorkshire ’ s charge to the Championship last season is one of grit , nous and no little skill . He finished with 1,489 runs — more than anyone in the country — six hundreds and a welter of awards . In fact , much of the hard work had been done before the season began , prompted by a moderate 2013 which forced him to work on his concentration levels . Yorkshire ’ s sports psychologist Scott Hartley came up with the idea of harnessing Lyth ’ s love of golf — his handicap is eight — to get him holing one short putt after another . The challenge lay not in the task itself , but in its repetition . ‘ There ’ s no skill in sinking a two-foot putt , ’ said Lyth . ‘ It ’ s just about concentration . It ’ s a bit like batting and not giving your wicket away . You try not to do something silly. ’ After 213 successful putts , he missed . But the point had been made . Lyth set about 2014 with renewed focus . ‘ It wasn ’ t just the concentration side of the game — my confidence changed , too , ’ he said . ‘ I got runs early on against the university sides , then played well at Taunton . It just snowballed from there. ’ Lyth plays a shot while batting for Yorkshire against the MCC at the Sheik Zayed Stadium last month . At a time when England ’ s Test batsmen have lost the knack of scoring the ‘ daddy hundreds ’ once espoused by former batting coach Graham Gooch , Lyth ’ s remorselessness caught the selectors ’ eye . He made 230 at Northampton , putting on 375 for the first wicket with the highly rated Alex Lees , then 251 against Lancashire at Old Trafford , one short of Darren Lehmann ’ s Roses record . ‘ One of my things is that I ’ ve never got enough runs , ’ said Lyth . ‘ If you ’ re going to get a hundred , you may as well make it a big one. ’ Lyth ’ s dedication has been evident for years . His mum Christine would drive him from game to game in his teenage years , and he spent two seasons trialling as a midfielder with Manchester City before deciding to throw in his lot with cricket ( his brother Ashley played for Leicester and Scarborough ) . And his reluctance to talk about his footballing days tells of a man who wants to be judged by his run-making alone . When he phoned his mum to tell her about his selection , she was ‘ very emotional ’ . Lyth bowls during day three of the Champion County match against the MCC . As the home summer got under way with six university fixtures across the country , it was easy to forget that the first-class season actually began late last month in the Middle East . And , in the now annual fixture in Abu Dhabi between MCC and the champion county , Lyth made 113 and 46 not out as Yorkshire won by nine wickets . Watching on was Cook , who will have a big say in whether he walks out to bat in Antigua with Lyth or Trott , ready to play again after leaving the Ashes tour in November 2013 because of a stress-related condition . Lyth is suitably complimentary about a player with 49 Test caps to his name and an average pushing 47 . ‘ He deserves his recall . He had a fantastic summer with Warwickshire and showed his class in South Africa with the Lions . ‘ It ’ ll be very hard to keep the likes of him out of the side . I ’ ve just got to concentrate on myself and impress in the nets. ’ The putting green may get a visit , too . Lyth is congratulated by team-mate Alex Lees ( right ) after taking the wicket of Michael Carberry .
Adam Lyth has enjoyed a meteoric rise from his early days with Yorkshire . He will now battle Jonathan Trott to be Alastair Cook 's opening partner at the first Test in Antigua on April 13 . Lyth has revealed how practising golf has helped to improve his concentration . A young Lyth also spent time trialing as a midfielder with Manchester City .