Delight for Gale and Yorkshire as Rashid shows signs of his old self

So, when the Yorkshire captain hints that something of the old confidence that not so long ago marked Rashid down as such an exciting England prospect is back then it is tempting to believe the county could be in for a timely boost.

On his return to the LV=County Championship, the one-time international has proved to be a shining light in what has otherwise been a largely gloomy three days for the promotion hopefuls.

Not only has Rashid taken his first five-wicket haul since the opening game of last season, but he has also rediscovered the vim and vigour that once set the Bradford-born spinner apart as one of the most promising talents around.

Certainly, Gale has seen a big change in his team-mate following a spell with the second team.

“I’m pleased for Adil because he’s had a tough time of it of late,” said Gale after Rashid’s 5-105 helped his side retain a toehold in a game that enters the final day with Yorkshire trailing Northamptonshire by 98 runs and having all 10 wickets in hand.

“It was nice to captain him (yesterday) because he was asking for players around the bat.

“Previously, he had been asking for men on the edge. That shows the change in his confidence.

“Probably the biggest thing in his favour is that he’s been able to go away from the game and work on a few things.

“Last season, we just kept playing and playing him, and that meant he didn’t have a chance to work on specifics.

“Maybe we could have done it (dropping Rashid) earlier but the thing with Adil is you always think that he can hit a match-winning innings or bowl a great spell.

“It was also difficult last year because David Wainwright was not bowling as well as Azeem Rafiq has done this year.

“Wainers was going for four an over and that meant the team didn’t have anyone to fill the holding role.

“What Rafiq gives us is control. When you have two spinners in the side, Adil feels he can be a wicket taker. He is not bothered about runs.

“But when Adil has been the main man, he has never quite been sure if he should be taking wickets or keeping it tight.

“We always saw him as a wicket-taker and I think he showed why against Northamptonshire.”

Rashid’s best figures since the 11-wicket haul that helped beat Worcestershire in the opening game of last season was the clear White Rose highlight of a third day that saw 37 overs lost to rain courtesy of a lunchtime downpour.

Either side of the frustrating delay, Yorkshire’s fortunes could not have been more contrasting with the truncated morning session seeing four wickets fall for the addition of just 60 runs but then all that hard work being undone in the final couple of hours.

Rashid and Ashraf did the early damage with two wickets apiece to raise hopes of a White Rose fightback with Northamptonshire 24 runs adrift when the heavens opened and having just three wickets in hand. However, any hopes of building on that sterling work disappeared once play resumed at 4.30pm as David Willey took advantage of some lacklustre bowling to hit a career-best 76 and help Northamptonshire open up a 103-run first innings lead.

Adam Lyth and Joe Root did then manage to negotiate four testing overs to ensure Yorkshire closed on five without loss.

But, even so, today will, weather permitting, surely be all about survival for the White Rose county.

It is a prospect that seemed a distant one during a morning that saw Gale’s side rediscover a sense of urgency in a contest that had, by the end of day two, seemed to be drifting away from them.

Resuming on 175-3, Northamptonshire immediately found the going a lot tougher as Ashraf enticed a thick edge from Rob Newton and Gary Ballance pocketed the catch in the slips.

After making the vital breakthrough, the Bradford-born pace bowler made further inroads the very next delivery when he trapped Andrew Hall in front of his stumps.

And although the hat-trick eluded him despite producing a yorker-length delivery to welcome James Middlebrook to the crease, Yorkshire didn’t have to wait too long for their next victim as Rashid deceived the former White Rose off spinner to trap him lbw.

With centurion Stephen Peters then becoming Rashid’s third victim of the innings courtesy of a stunning reflex catch by Joe Root, the impetus seemed to be with Yorkshire only for the enemy of the 2012 season, the rain, to return and force the players off 20 minutes before the scheduled lunch interval.

The near four-hour break worked in Northamptonshire’s favour as Willey, ably supported by Olly Stone and David Murphy, dished out some late punishment.

Rashid finally got Willey with a delightfully-flighted delivery but by then the damage had been done to leave Yorkshire up against it going into the final day.

Gale admitted to being disappointed by how the impetus was lost in the last couple of hours but he has not yet given up on forcing a result if some form of agreement can be reached with Northamptonshire captain Andrew Hall.

He added: “They are in front of us at the moment and will think they can still win the game.

“But if we can put a good morning’s cricket in and go past them then, I don’t know, if he (Hall) will want to set up a game or not.

“The weather forecast isn’t great so we will see where we are in the morning.”