Yorkshire vow not to be cowed by intimidation

ANDREW GALE has indicated Lancashire’s “bully-boy tactics” during the last County Championship Roses match will give Yorkshire added incentive to beat the old enemy at Headingley this week.

Gale was incensed with Lancashire’s behaviour during the game at Liverpool in May, when England fast bowler James Anderson was spoken to by the umpires for his conduct during the Yorkshire second innings.

Anderson repeatedly sledged Yorkshire batsman Joe Sayers and appeared to laugh in Gale’s face when he caught the Yorkshire captain off Gary Keedy.

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Gale is adamant he would not allow his own players to behave like that and promised Yorkshire will be “well up for it” as they seek a win that would pull them further clear of the relegation zone.

“What happened at Liverpool is still fresh in my mind,” said Gale, who will have Jacques Rudolph available for Yorkshire’s 3,000th Championship fixture.

“I wasn’t happy with what went on there, particularly with the Jimmy Anderson situation.

“In my opinion, they over-stepped the mark and I wouldn’t let my own players carry on like that.

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“We’ll be well up for it this week and we certainly won’t be intimidated by any bully-boy tactics.”

Gale’s fighting talk is indicative of a man who plays the game hard but fair.

Yorkshire will not have Anderson to contend with on this occasion – he is on Test duty at Lord’s – but there is no doubt they will be even more fired-up than usual to pull off a win.

“I don’t know what triggered it off last time; it just happened,” said Gale.

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“We had a very young side out that week – we had seven or eight players missing.

“We were just disappointed with one or two people on their side.

“Our team actually get on well with a lot of the Lancashire lads.”

Former England coach and current Lancashire boss Peter Moores has played down Lancashire’s conduct at Liverpool.

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He claimed both sides “went at it the right way” and that “you’re trying to create a spectacle for people to watch that has some emotion in it”.

Moores went on: “The key is that whatever goes on the field stays on the field. It can’t go beyond the spirit of the game.

“At Liverpool there were a couple of really good scraps. You’ve got people like Gale who is always up for a scrap, and both sides have got masses to play for.”

Yorkshire’s disappointment with Lancashire seemed eminently justified in a game they lost in heart-breaking manner.

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Lancashire won by six wickets with four balls to spare after being left to chase 121 in 15 overs.

It was one of six Championship wins by the Red Rose this season, which have propelled them to second in the table.

Yorkshire, in contrast, have won only twice and are third-bottom of the league – one place and 13 points above the relegation zone.

“It’s a massive fixture for both sides,” admitted Gale. “They want to be pushing for the Championship and we want to be continuing our form of last week, when we beat Worcestershire to climb out of the relegation zone.

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“The only way is up from our point of view and there’s no one who really frightens us.

“We’ve played Durham twice, we’ve played Notts twice, and all the other teams are definitely beatable.“

Gale’s men have shown flickers of decent form during the past few days.

They won three successive matches against Durham in the Twenty20 Cup, Worcestershire in the Championship and Derbyshire in the Twenty20, before losing to Middlesex on Sunday in the CB40.

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“We had three wins on the bounce before Sunday and played some good cricket in our last Championship match,” added Gale.

“We didn’t make it easy for ourselves at times, but we got over the line. That’s the main thing and it will give us a lot of confidence.

“What we’ve got to do now is back it up with another good performance this week.”

Rudolph’s return will aid that ambition, with the 30-year-old having yesterday received clearance from Cricket South Africa to rejoin Yorkshire until the end of the season.

Rudolph is set to open the batting in today’s match.

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“Jacques coming back is great news and he will obviously bring an extra touch of quality,” said Gale.

“He will give everyone a lift and hopefully help us climb the league.

“Last year, Jacques helped us to some big first innings totals, whereas this year we’ve flirted around the 300-mark.

“That’s a big part of our game we’re looking to improve.”

Yorkshire have added 19-year-old pace bowler Moin Ashraf to their squad.

Iain Wardlaw, the 26-year-old seam bowler who caught Gale’s eye while playing club cricket for Cleckheaton, is once more in contention to make his Championship debut.