Yorkshire cement squad backbone

The county's captain is one of 11 players to extend their stay at Headingley Carnegie as Yorkshire place their faith in the young players who came of age last summer.

Ten of those to sign new deals are under the age of 27 – including 26-year-old Gale – underscoring the belief around the club that their season-long bid for trophies on two fronts was the start of what is hoped will be a golden age for the White Rose.

"I'm pleased, and not only with my own contract but with the fact that there was 11 of us signing on," said the captain, who had two years to run on his existing deal but has lengthened that to the end of 2013 to lay down a marker for his team-mates to follow.

"Myself and Martyn Moxon (director of professional cricket) sat down with the rest of the management team and decided that it was important we keep the spine of the team together and 11 players signing new deals shows their commitment to Yorkshire and also the commitment of the club to this exciting young team.

"The lads who have signed performed outstandingly well during the summer and it shows that we are standing by them, that we believe in them to continue taking this club forward.

"All the players are keen to continue what we have been building. The players are very positive about the prospects of this group being successful for themselves and for the club.

"It is important we start to build for the future, not just for next year, but the next 10 years."

Gale has been joined by Richard Pyrah, Steve Patterson, both 27, Adam Lyth, 23, and Jonathan Bairstow and Oliver Hanon-Dalby, both 21, in committing to the cause until the end of 2013, with perhaps the most notable of those penning three-year deals being Tim Bresnan.

The 25-year-old will fly out to Australia tomorrow as part of England's Ashes squad and although his county appearances over the last 18 months have been limited due to international commitments, Gale believes both Bresnan and fellow England bowler Ajmal Shahzad remain important standard bearers for the club.

"Both Tim and Ajmal are going to be involved with England but hopefully we'll get them in the team as often as possible because they're key figures," said Gale, with Shahzad having signed a new contract last winter.

"It would be easy for Tim and Ajmal to look elsewhere now that they're England players, but they're both passionate about Yorkshire and what's developing here."

Ryan Sidebottom has been lured back to his home county and the experience he has gained in two title-winning campaigns for Nottinghamshire is seen as key in developing the club's young bowlers into a unit that can maintain Yorkshire's position at the top end of the County Championship.

Sidebottom will also provide cover should Bresnan and Shahzad's England involvement be increased, but as far as further recruitment goes it appears this raft of contract renewals could be Yorkshire's last significant move ahead of the 2011 campaign.

Gale is to meet Moxon during the next fortnight to continue planning for next season before he joins Lyth, Bairstow and Shahzad in departing for Australia on November 13 with the England Performance Squad.

With Jacques Rudolph, who scored 1,375 runs last summer, having left, the ethos is to trust in the county's youth set-up.

It has served them well in 2010 with their title challenge going down to the final day and their one-day form helping them to the semi-finals of the CB 40 competition.

"It took two or three weeks to digest what happened," reflected Gale on his first season as captain when Yorkshire shed their relegation-favourites tag in convincing fashion.

"It's still disappointing what happened, but in hindsight we can all be proud.

"It was an exciting experience, but in a way it's all gone now and once we get back into training we've got to work even harder.

"On a personal level, I know I'm not the finished article as a captain, you're always learning. There are things I could have done differently but I enjoyed the whole experience.

"It's good when things are going well, and as the captain the praise often comes your way. But at some stage we will struggle, things won't go right, and it's how I react and how the team reacts that will count."

At 35, Anthony McGrath was the oldest of the players to sign a new deal, joining Joe Sayers, 26, in signing until the end of 2012.

Young bowlers Moin Ashraf and Gurman Randhawa, both 18, completed the 11 by agreeing their first professional contracts at the club.