Andrew Gale believes Tom Kohler-Cadmore can challenge for England spot

ANDREW GALE believes that Tom Kohler-Cadmore can take Alex Hales's place in England's one-day side.
Yorkshire's Tom Kohler-Cadmore hits out against Warwickshire (Picture: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com).Yorkshire's Tom Kohler-Cadmore hits out against Warwickshire (Picture: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com).
Yorkshire's Tom Kohler-Cadmore hits out against Warwickshire (Picture: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com).

The Yorkshire first-team coach feels that Kohler-Cadmore is good enough to dislodge the Nottinghamshire batsman in white-ball cricket.

Kohler-Cadmore, 23, showed the extent of his potential with an innings of 164 against Durham on Friday – the fourth-highest individual score for Yorkshire in one-day cricket.

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Although competition for places is extremely fierce in the England team, Gale is adamant that Kohler-Cadmore has what it takes to replicate that form at the highest level.

Asked whether he can see Kohler-Cadmore playing one-day cricket for his country, Gale replied: “I think so. You look at someone like Alex Hales; he can take Alex Hales’s spot.

“When ‘Halesy’ was as young as Tom, he wouldn’t have had anywhere near the potential that Tom has, so, if he can continue putting performances together like he did the other night then there’s no reason why he can’t represent England.”

Kohler-Cadmore – who today faces former club Worcestershire in the One-Day Cup at Emerald Headingley – is one of the cleanest strikers around. Tall and powerful, he is a destructive strokemaker who can win a match single-handed.

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In addition to whether he can represent England, a no less pressing question from a Yorkshire perspective is whether he can hold down a regular place in the County Championship side.

His 164 at Chester-le-Street begged the question “where has he been?”, with the club having struggled for Championship runs.

“There’s no doubt that Tom has got ability in red-ball cricket and, if he’s in the form he’s in now, I’ve no doubt he’ll play when the Championship comes around again,” said Gale.

“We just needed him to get into some form and unfortunately at the start of the year he wasn’t in any sort of nick to put him into the Championship team.

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“Before Friday night I think he’d only had five runs in his last six innings, but if he carries on with this form then he’ll have a fantastic season.

“We know what Tom’s about, we know he’s a fantastic white-ball player, but we want that to spill over to all formats because everyone can see the potential that he’s got.”

Kohler-Cadmore showed signs of that potential again when he scored 39 in Sunday’s five-wicket defeat to Warwickshire at Headingley. As at Chester-le-Street, he added 80 for the first-wicket with Adam Lyth, the pair forming a dynamic duo.

Unlike at Chester-le-Street, however, Yorkshire were unable to build on the platform provided by Kohler-Cadmore and Lyth, losing a steady stream of wickets that cost them dear. The hosts were left dazed and confused by Warwickshire spinner Jeetan Patel, whose four wickets restricted them to a modest 247-9.

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“We’ve got to park Sunday now and bounce back against Worcestershire because it’s pretty evident where we lost the game against Warwickshire,” said Gale.

“We got off to a fantastic start with the bat through ‘Lythy’ and Tom, 80 without loss, but we just didn’t do the basics well enough from there.

“We knew that we’d have to bowl out of our skin because we were 50-60 below-par really on that kind of pitch. Our shot selection against Jeetan Patel was very poor and it was disappointing not to back-up Friday night.”

One man who did back-up Friday night was Cheteshwar Pujara, who followed his 82 at Chester-le-Street with 73 on Sunday.

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The Indian has struggled for runs in the Championship – only 100 in eight innings at 12.5 – but he is a proven performer in the white-ball format, in which his traditional, patient method of batting is still highly effective.

“He played really nicely on Sunday and he’s sort of the glue in the batting line-up really,” added Gale. “We just want him to bat at his normal tempo and let the other guys bat around him.

“Unfortunately that didn’t happen on Sunday, but overall there’s been lots of positives from the way that we’ve started the tournament.

“We’ve performed well at home for a number of years in white-ball cricket, so let’s hope that Sunday was just a speed bump.”

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Pace bowlers Jack Brooks and Matthew Fisher have been named in a 13-man squad for today’s game, returning from rest and injury respectively.

Yorkshire (from): Bresnan, Brook, Brooks, Coad, Fisher, Hodd, Kohler-Cadmore, Leaning, Lyth, Patterson (captain), Pujara, Rashid, Wainman.