Gillespie applauds team effort as Yorkshire hit top spot

JASON GILLESPIE believes Yorkshire are making their critics eat their words after storming to the top of the County Championship.
Jason GillespieJason Gillespie
Jason Gillespie

Yorkshire’s 10-wicket win against Middlesex at Lord’s sent them to the summit of Division One at the halfway stage of the season – an emphatic response to a dismal innings defeat in their opening match against Sussex at Headingley.

Since then, Yorkshire have won four games and drawn three, playing some outstanding cricket to prove themselves eminently 
capable of winning the title in their 150th year.

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“We’re top of the table on merit and it’s especially pleasing after that first game when people were questioning us,” said Gillespie, the club’s first-team coach.

“Some of the media and one or two people around county cricket were questioning whether we actually deserved to be in Division One, and I’d like to think that we’re going some way to proving people wrong.

“But as a coaching and support staff, we had absolute belief in our players and trust in our lads.

“As I told them after that first game, ‘don’t let that one game define our season because you’ve worked incredibly hard in pre-season’, and the boys have responded magnificently well.”

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Yorkshire are flying, with their bowling attack proving much too good for a Middlesex team who went into the match in second place, but Gillespie said no one at the club was getting carried away. The former Australia fast bowler stressed there was plenty of hard work ahead if Yorkshire are to maintain their position at the head of the table.

“If you’d asked us at the start of the season whether we’d have taken this position at the top of the league, of course we’d have taken it, but we’re not getting ahead of ourselves in any way at all,” he added.

“There’s still a long way to go and we’re under no illusions.

“We can certainly feel satisfied at the halfway point that we are where we are, but things can change very quickly and we need to keep maintaining our standards with everything we do.

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“The lads know that Division One is tough cricket and that we need to maintain those standards in the second half of the season.”

Yorkshire’s position owes much to Gillespie himself, who is rapidly enhancing his reputation as an excellent coach. However, he modestly insists that Yorkshire’s success has been a genuine team effort across the board.

“Absolutely it’s been a team effort on-and-off the field,” he said.

“First and foremost, it’s down to the players; they have been magnificent and different guys have stood up and got the job done in different games.

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“Although I have the title of first-team coach, it’s been a team effort from our support staff starting with Martyn Moxon (director of cricket), who’s been a wonderful support for not only myself but also our other coaches Paul Farbrace (second team), Ian Dews (director of development) and Richard Damms (development manager).

“We all work really well together and then our physio, Scot McAllister, and our strength and conditioning coach, Tom Summers, also need to take a hell of a lot of credit for preparing the boys physically and getting them into the best shape to help them play big innings and bowl long spells.”

Match report: Page 5.