We must raise our game, says Gale

The Yorkshire captain said his team had yet to scratch the surface of their potential in the opening days of the new campaign.

Gale felt Yorkshire played to “60-70 per cent” capacity in their drawn matches against Kent and Leeds-Bradford MCCU.

But he is confident they can reach full throttle as they prepare to face Essex in the Championship at Headingley Carnegie, starting today.

“There is much more to come from us,” stressed Gale, who is set to have Australia batsman Phil Jaques available for the first time this season.

“At the moment, we’re probably playing at 60-70 per cent of our potential, and we need to lift that up to 100 per cent.

“We know we’ve got to improve, but a lot of teams who are quick out of the blocks aren’t always there in mid-season and beyond.

“I know the potential is there for this side to go on and perform throughout the season, and although we haven’t quite hit our straps yet, I think we will.”

Gale has maintained a positive outlook in the wake of the Championship opener against Kent.

He accepts Yorkshire were profligate in allowing the visitors to get away from 374-8 to 537-9 declared, but he was cheered by the way they did not cave in with the bat after being forced to follow-on.

“The good thing was that we didn’t just lay down and die,” he added. “It was the first game of the season, there was a lot of optimism around and if someone goes out and scores 500-plus against you it’s easy to fall down by the wayside and get rolled over, but that didn’t happen.

“There were definitely positives to take from the game – among them the bowling of Ajmal Shahzad and Adil Rashid, and the batting of Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow – but we didn’t just sit down after that match and say, ‘Brilliant game, everyone. We’ve got all these positives to take out of it’.

“There were positives, but we also know there’s a lot of work to be done.”

In particular, improvement is needed in the bowling department.

Yorkshire have struggled to turn the screw in both games so far, Kent having frustrated them with a ninth-wicket stand of 153 between Matt Coles and Mark Davies and Leeds-Bradford doing likewise with a ninth-wicket alliance of 95 between Alex MacQueen and Matt Higginbottom, which allowed them to recover from 114-8 in their first innings to 211 all out.

“I think if we have another big ninth-wicket partnership against us this week I’m going to walk off the field,” quipped Gale.

“It’s very frustrating, and the thing we keep hammering on about is that if the ball is good enough for the top-six batters, then why don’t we bowl the same to the bottom five?

“We often get teams in difficult positions and let things slip, and we’ve got to be more consistent with our areas. That’s the message we need to keep ramming home.”

The inconsistencies evident so far mean that Gale and first-team coach Jason Gillespie – who today celebrates his 37th birthday – have much to ponder before finalising their XI.

Of the bowlers, Steve Patterson could replace Iain Wardlaw, while it will be interesting to see how Yorkshire accommodate Anthony McGrath if selected.

McGrath bowled well against Leeds-Bradford and could perform the all-rounder role vacated by Rich Pyrah, who broke his left hand against Kent.

“We’ll have to wait and see how things pan out and what sort of team we select,” said Gale, “but we’ve certainly got dilemmas in the batting department and competition for places.

“At the end of the day, you’ve just to go with a gut feeling and obviously there will be some lads who are disappointed, but it’s not just about the first month of the season – it’s about the whole six months.

“I’m sure that, at some stage, someone will get injured or fall out of form, and it’s important that the lads who aren’t in the side keep pushing for a place.”

Although the weather forecast is unpromising, a repeat of the livelier surface produced for the Leeds-Bradford match might aid attempts to force a result.

“One of the biggest positives for me out of the Leeds-Bradford game was the pitch,” said Gale. “It was too flat for the Kent match, and we’re not going to get results at home if we carry on like that.

“For the Leeds-Bradford game, we rolled it a little bit less and left a little bit more moisture in it. I thought the groundstaff did an excellent job.”