Yorkshire v Derbyshire: Hiding away is not an option as Gale meets his demons head on

The Yorkshire captain scored 25 in the first innings and 39 in the second as his side gained a famous four-wicket win.

But the 29-year-old looked good in both innings as he seeks to emerge from a challenging period.

As Gale himself will be only too aware, it is nearly two years since he last recorded a first-class century.

An innings of 101 not out at Chester-le-Street in June 2011 helped Yorkshire out of a hole and to a hard-fought draw after they conceded a first innings deficit of 223.

Since then, Gale has managed four half-centuries in 31 first-class innings.

He started this season with scores of 0 and 9 not out against Leeds-Bradford MCCU, and 2 and 3 against Sussex, and will hope that his most recent trip to the Riverside will be the catalyst for sizeable innings to come.

Gale, of course, has the added pressure of captaining Yorkshire – pressure that is very much heightened in this, the club’s 150th anniversary year.

However, it is has been a technical issue, rather than anything related to the challenges of leadership, that has affected him in recent times.

In a nutshell, Gale’s problem has been one of balance at the crease.

The left-hander has been slightly falling over in his pre-delivery movements, thus losing a solid base from which to play his shots.

At this time of year in particular, when runs are hard to come by and the ball is swinging and seaming around, the slightest technical flaw can be magnified.

However, Gale looked a lot better at Durham and said that he had been working hard to rectify the problem.

“I’ve just been slightly falling over at the crease and I’ve been working on keeping my head a lot more still,” said Gale, whose side return to County Championship action today against Derbyshire at Headingley, with Rich Pyrah replacing the rested Ryan Sidebottom in the only change to the 12-man squad on duty in the north-east.

“You’re only talking an inch or so from where I wanted to be, but that’s all it takes to make a big difference that can have the effect of getting you out.

“It’s fine margins and you have to be careful that you don’t fall into the trap of over-analysing when things aren’t working.

“Sometimes, you can go three or four knocks without getting a big score and you end up looking for things that aren’t even there, but I felt back to myself in Durham.”

An in-form Gale is crucial for Yorkshire.

Not only is he a key member of the side at No.4, but good performances are vital to enforce a captain’s authority.

“As captain, you always want to be leading from the front,” added Gale, who is now in his fourth season at the helm.

“I’m no different, and I’m desperate to make a big contribution.

“Whenever your side loses and you don’t make a contribution it hurts, there’s no doubt about that.

“I take pride in leading from the front and it’s important that the captain sets the right example.”

Gale’s lack of big runs, allied to the blossoming of talented team-mate Gary Ballance, has led to calls among some Yorkshire supporters for their positions in the Yorkshire batting order to be reversed.

That is as much a reflection of the strides taken by Ballance, however, who currently bats at No.6 and Gale at No.4.

Gale, however, is in no mood to shirk the challenge.

Rather, he is determined to face it with the sort of fighting spirit that typifies his game.

“I don’t want to be batting down the order and hiding away,” said Gale, who has scored 5,041 first-class runs at 35.75 with 12 hundreds and 22 fifties.

“I want to be at the front of the queue and the highest run-scorer in the team.

“Guys fall out of form from time to time and it’s about how you react that’s important.

“I’ve just got to go out there and make some ugly runs in the early-season conditions.”

Gale – who passed 5,000 first-class runs during the first innings at Chester-le-Street – had an excellent pre-season tour to Barbados.

Now his supporters will hope that a corner has been turned.

“I’ve been scratchy the first few weeks of the season after scoring quite a lot of runs in Barbados,” he added.

“I made a couple of 70s and 80s in Barbados and was pretty pleased with my performance over there.

“So to come back and not get out of the blocks as I would have liked was disappointing, but, of course, it’s still early days.

“The fact is, not many people are stacking them up in the country in these sorts of conditions, but, as I say, it’s all about making ugly runs at this time of the year.”