Frustration for Andrew Gale after another close encounter defeat

ANDREW GALE bemoaned 'the story of our season' after his Yorkshire side lost to Leicestershire.
Yorkshire coach Andrew Gale: 'Same old story.'Yorkshire coach Andrew Gale: 'Same old story.'
Yorkshire coach Andrew Gale: 'Same old story.'

The county’s first-team coach said it summed up the way things are going at present as Yorkshire fell to a four-wicket defeat.

The result leaves Yorkshire’s qualification hopes in doubt ahead of their final group game at home to Northants on Thursday.

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“It’s the story of our season really,” said Gale, whose mood post-match at Grace Road was improved only by news that his beloved Huddersfield Town had won 3-0 in their inaugural Premier League fixture at Crystal Palace.

“We’ve played some good cricket at times in this tournament and then not backed it up throughout, which is very frustrating.

“The table is very tight, and all we can do is beat Northants in our final match and see where it takes us.

“I feel that we’ve played well enough to get through to the quarter-finals, but we just haven’t shown the consistency in backing up results, and that’s been the story of our season in all formats really.”

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Yorkshire have, indeed, played some splendid T20 cricket at times.

They have consistently posted good totals with the bat, with Gale considering their 182-5 at Grace Road another above-par effort.

But they have been undone in several close games, with the margins invariably small in the game’s shortest format.

“You look back and that’s the fourth close game we’ve lost,” said Gale.

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“We haven’t won those close games, and what that’s down to, I don’t know.

“You look at both Derbyshire games, the game at Durham and now this, and we’ve been on the wrong end of those results.

“It’s frustrating, and once again I thought we batted really well, raising a real competitive total.”

Gale felt that Yorkshire lost the match with the ball as Leicestershire completed a win that maintained their own interest in the tournament.

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The hosts were steered home by half-centuries from Luke Ronchi and Colin Ackerman, with Liam Plunkett, with 3-42, Yorkshire’s most successful bowler. “We just couldn’t build any pressure with the ball,” said Gale.

“Ronchi played well, but I felt as soon as we got him out, in that middle period, we just gave them a four-ball every over.

“The fours were going square of the wicket, which was the most disappointing thing.

“We’ve got a solid game plan that we know works in T20, but we’re struggling to put a full game together with bat and ball.”