Middlesex v Yorkshire: White Rose seeking atonement on return to Lord's

ANDREW GALE is calling on Yorkshire to lay to rest their Middlesex hoodoo as last year's title rivals go head-to-head.
Dejection: Andrew Gale applauds Middlesex for the victory over his team that earned them the 2016 County Championship title last September. He returns to Lords nine months on as first-team coach.
Picture: SWPix.comDejection: Andrew Gale applauds Middlesex for the victory over his team that earned them the 2016 County Championship title last September. He returns to Lords nine months on as first-team coach.
Picture: SWPix.com
Dejection: Andrew Gale applauds Middlesex for the victory over his team that earned them the 2016 County Championship title last September. He returns to Lords nine months on as first-team coach. Picture: SWPix.com

The county’s first-team coach takes his side to Lord’s for a re-match of last year’s Championship decider which Middlesex won.

It extended Yorkshire’s poor sequence against the champions, who are aiming to beat them for a fourth successive time.

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Yorkshire lost by 61 runs at Lord’s last year after Middlesex beat them by an innings and four runs at Scarborough in July.

Middlsex's bowler Toby Roland-Jones celebrates taking the final wicket of Yorkshire's Ryan Sidebottom to win the County Championship during day four of the Specsavers County Championship, Division One match at Lord's in 2016 (Picture: PA)Middlsex's bowler Toby Roland-Jones celebrates taking the final wicket of Yorkshire's Ryan Sidebottom to win the County Championship during day four of the Specsavers County Championship, Division One match at Lord's in 2016 (Picture: PA)
Middlsex's bowler Toby Roland-Jones celebrates taking the final wicket of Yorkshire's Ryan Sidebottom to win the County Championship during day four of the Specsavers County Championship, Division One match at Lord's in 2016 (Picture: PA)

In 2015, Yorkshire lost by 246 runs at Lord’s after clinching the title on bonus points earlier in the match.

Although Yorkshire beat Middlesex at home in 2014 and 2015, they also lost at Lord’s in 2014, where the hosts chased a colossal target of 472.

Gale has had enough of coming off second best to a side who have surprisingly not won in the Championship this year, with Middlesex drawing their first four games before losing to Lancashire at Southport last week.

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It was their first defeat in 21 Championship games dating back to September 2015, when they lost to Worcestershire at New Road.

Middlsex's bowler Toby Roland-Jones with Steven Finn (left) celebrates taking the final wicket of Yorkshire's Ryan Sidebottom to win the County ChampionshipMiddlsex's bowler Toby Roland-Jones with Steven Finn (left) celebrates taking the final wicket of Yorkshire's Ryan Sidebottom to win the County Championship
Middlsex's bowler Toby Roland-Jones with Steven Finn (left) celebrates taking the final wicket of Yorkshire's Ryan Sidebottom to win the County Championship

“We’ve got a few wrongs to put right against Middlesex,” admitted Gale.

“We’ve had a poor record against them in the last few years.

“They’ve been a bit of bogey team for us, just as they’ve been a bit of a bogey team for a lot of teams.

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“They’ve not started as well as they would have liked, so we’ll expect a reaction at Lord’s.”

Middlsex's bowler Toby Roland-Jones celebrates taking the final wicket of Yorkshire's Ryan Sidebottom to win the County Championship during day four of the Specsavers County Championship, Division One match at Lord's in 2016 (Picture: PA)Middlsex's bowler Toby Roland-Jones celebrates taking the final wicket of Yorkshire's Ryan Sidebottom to win the County Championship during day four of the Specsavers County Championship, Division One match at Lord's in 2016 (Picture: PA)
Middlsex's bowler Toby Roland-Jones celebrates taking the final wicket of Yorkshire's Ryan Sidebottom to win the County Championship during day four of the Specsavers County Championship, Division One match at Lord's in 2016 (Picture: PA)

Yorkshire have won their last two Championship matches to go second in the table, six points behind Essex, who have been the season’s surprise package.

Yorkshire’s cricket has been no better than “decent”, according to Gale, and it would perhaps not take that much for the 2014/15 champions to pull away if they can raise their game just a notch.

“We’re at the right end of the table, but we’re playing decent cricket, not great cricket,” said Gale.

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“There’s lots of areas we can improve, and we’ll continue to work as hard as we can.

Middlsex's bowler Toby Roland-Jones with Steven Finn (left) celebrates taking the final wicket of Yorkshire's Ryan Sidebottom to win the County ChampionshipMiddlsex's bowler Toby Roland-Jones with Steven Finn (left) celebrates taking the final wicket of Yorkshire's Ryan Sidebottom to win the County Championship
Middlsex's bowler Toby Roland-Jones with Steven Finn (left) celebrates taking the final wicket of Yorkshire's Ryan Sidebottom to win the County Championship

“It’s early days to talk about titles, though, and what the league table looks like.

“We’ve just got to keep smashing our processes and making sure that we’re on it.”

The main thing that Yorkshire want to improve is their batting.

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They have not been happy with it as a collective unit for quite some time, aware that their bowlers have too often bailed them out of trouble.

“There’s been some strong words said about our batting,” said Gale.

“It’s not been up to scratch for a while now, but our bowling attack is so good that it keeps getting us back into games.

“We just need to nail our batting, because we haven’t batted well consistently as a unit for a long time.

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“We keep talking about it, but we’re still waiting to see it come right, and hopefully it is just around the corner.”

Competition for places will certainly help.

Yorkshire have signed Tom Kohler-Cadmore from Worcestershire, a dangerous strokeplayer, while 18-year-old Harry Brook is in the Championship squad for the first time this week.

“It’s good that we’ve got competition,” said Gale.

“Tom Kohler-Cadmore is a good signing, although he’s under no illusion that we didn’t promise him a dream where he’d come and go straight into the side.

“He’s obviously done well this year for Worcester, but First Division cricket is a lot tougher, and it’s up to the likes of Tom to put pressure on the lads who have got the shirts at the minute.

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“Harry Brook has been doing well in the second team, and we need that competition for the batting slots.”

Brook top-scored with 161 in Yorkshire’s Second XI Championship match against Lancashire at Scarborough last week, having recently hit a match-winning century in the Second XI Trophy final against Middlesex at Headingley.

Kohler-Cadmore made a six-ball duck on debut in his only innings in the second-team contest against Lancashire, the 22-year-old having joined the club ahead of schedule after Worcestershire allowed him to leave before his contract expired.

Yorkshire go into today’s game on the back of a Royal London Cup play-off defeat to Surrey at Headingley.

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The visitors knocked them out of the tournament for a second successive year, winning by 24 runs to prolong Yorkshire’s 15-year wait for a white-ball trophy.

“We can’t afford to feel sorry for ourselves,” said Gale.

“We’ve got a big game now to focus on at Lord’s.

“We’ve still got two trophies to play for (the Championship and the T20 Blast).

“We have to dust ourselves off and go again.”

Middlesex, who are languishing in sixth place, one place and 13 points above the relegation zone, are confident that they can kickstart their season this week.

However, they are without batsman Adam Voges, who has returned to Australia ahead of schedule after a calf injury, and Dawid Malan due to England T20 duty.

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The hosts are also missing Nick Gubbins and Tom Helm, who are with the Lions for their four-day game against South Africa A at Canterbury.

Pace bowler Steven Finn returns after playing for England in the Champions Trophy, as does Adil Rashid for Yorkshire.

Middlesex head coach Richard Scott commented: “We’re going into the game feeling good.

“We’ve got a good record against Yorkshire in recent matches.

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“The table may not look too good, but we’re in a similar position to last season and we have a game in hand over all the sides ahead of us.

“We still think we can retain our title, and the table shows that Hampshire and Essex have done very well after getting on a roll, and that’s what we must do now.”