Yorkshire skipper Andrew Gale believes there’s much more to come from his team
Yorkshire skipper Andrew Gale believes there’s much more to come from his team.
The Tykes are second in the County Championship Division One table after opening their campaign with a draw and a win.
It was the destruction of newly-promoted Northamptonshire earlier this week that will have caused the rest of the division to sit up and take notice.
Yorkshire, who missed out on the title to neighbours Durham last season after setting the pace, won by an innings and 120 runs at Headingley.
And Gale, whose side take on Middlesex at Lord’s in their next Championship fixture, which starts tomorrow, knows there’s room for improvement within the squad.
“I thought we played to about 80 per cent of our potential,” he said, looking back to the Northants win. I think we’ve still got quite a lot in the tank.
“I think there’s more runs to come from the top order, and the difference with the bat really was Gary Ballance, who played superbly well.
“I thought there were periods where we bowled very well but still periods where we didn’t put the ball in the right areas consistently enough.
“We were probably striving for wickets too much when we got the sniff of a win and pushed too hard for it. So that will give us a kick up the backside.”
The match was particularly notable for former Northants favourite Jack Brooks, who claimed match figures of 8-112 including a five-wicket haul that helped Yorkshire bowl the visitors out for just 94 in their first innings.
“It’s never easy, I would imagine, playing against your old club because you always want to prove a point,” said Gale.
“Not that Jack left on bad terms. There were probably a few nerves around as well, so to perform in the fashion he did was superb.
“He can be a little bit more consistent and he knows that; he bowls a few full tosses and a few short balls at times but he also bowls wicket-taking balls.
“Jack’s a great asset for us and very effective at Headingley in particular.”
Gale’s opposite number at Durham isn’t quite so happy with life.
Paul Collingwood’s side, who don’t play this weekend, have drawn both of their games so far but have been a position to win both before being thwarted by committed batting from their opponents.
“We’re playing good cricket, not excellent cricket,” said Collingwood. “We are putting teams under pressure for long periods, but we are just not quite finishing them off.
Looking back to the home draw with Somerset, he added: “We didn’t score anywhere near where we should have in the first innings (Durham posted 308). We batted okay but I thought we could have got up to 350 or 400.
“I’m enjoying the positiveness in our batting and I think we can take that to the next level. But I don’t want that to be an excuse for not making big totals. David Warner, for example, plays positively but he still makes big hundreds because he has that determination.
“I think we do miss a Ben Stokes spell or a Mark Wood spell because they do give you X-factor when it comes to the crunch.
“The guys have been building pressure with partnerships but sometimes you do need that real one spell that takes the game away from the opposition. We just haven’t quite had that.
“So far we haven’t had a hundred or a five-for, so we need those match-winning performances.”
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