‘sensational’ bowling lauded by gillespie

Yorkshire lost by an innings and 12 runs against Sussex at Headingley, a result that appeared to cast doubt on their ability to flourish in the First Division.

But backs-to-the-wall wins over Durham and Derbyshire, a near-miss against Somerset, when Yorkshire were cruelly denied by the weather, followed by an outstanding innings victory over Warwickshire yesterday, has revealed the true colours of Gillespie’s men.

“We didn’t perform at all well against Sussex and deserved to be beaten, and a couple of question marks were raised,” he said.

“But the way the lads have bounced back has been brilliant. They are starting to show how good they really are and this latest win was absolutely fantastic.

“After that first game I basically said to them, ‘Look, don’t lose sight of the fact that you’ve had five fantastic months of preparation, you‘ve had the pre-season tour to Barbados, and you played some really good cricket over there. Don’t let this one game define your season.’ Touch wood, they’ve been excellent since then.”

Yorkshire’s performance at Edgbaston put down a clear marker to the rest of Division One. However, you will not find Gillespie getting carried away.

“We came out on top again, but it’s not going to happen all the time,” he said.

“It’s all the old cliches about not looking too far ahead, taking it one day at a time, all that sort of stuff. If you look too far ahead you take your eye off what’s in front of you, so we need to make sure we keep our focus.”

Yorkshire’s bowlers have been highly impressive in that regard and Gillespie was delighted with their work in the Midlands. Everyone chipped in as Warwickshire totalled 128 and 140.

“I thought our bowling was sensational,” he said. “Our plan was to bowl quite full and make the batsmen come forward as often as possible and we did that very well.”

The former Australia fast bowler added: “The bottom line is that Warwickshire are a very good side, so to come away with a victory like that was very pleasing.

“But the challenge now is to maintain our standards.”