Andrew Gale has a favour to ask of his Yorkshire players – to help him reach a Lord’s final.

The White Rose coach admits it is a regret of his never to have played in a showpiece final at the Home of Cricket, only watching the 2002 C&G Trophy success over Somerset from the stands as an Academy player.

Gale grew up in the era when Lord’s finals were the feature of the domestic calendar.

Now, with the Royal London one-day Cup final moving to Trent Bridge from next summer as part of the ECB’s shake up of the domestic game, the former county captain is in the last chance saloon.

Yorkshire begin their North Group campaign against Leicestershire at Emerald Headingley on Wednesday (11am).

Asked whether this year’s competition takes on extra significance because of a last Lord’s final, Gale said: “It might be different for the younger generation, because of T20 Finals Day. But it does for me, certainly.

“It would be brilliant to get to Lord’s.

“Growing up, a 50-over final at Lord’s was a tradition.

“It is a regret because it’s on the bucket list of any cricketer of my generation. It’s a box I never ticked and would love to.

“If we got there, it would be fantastic because I know how well we’d be supported.

“I remember as a young lad on the Academy going to watch the C&G in 2002.

“Myself and Tim Bresnan and Nick Thornicroft had played for the England Under 19s the day before at Somerset. I was driving us all up to Lord’s.

“Bres had played in the early parts of the comp, so he was gutted not to play.”

All-rounder Bresnan is set to make his first appearance of the summer against the Foxes having recovered from a back injury suffered in late pre-season.

England duo Adil Rashid and David Willey are available for the first three games ahead of the international programme starting on May 3, but Joe Root is not. There is also the potential for Willey’s availability to be extended.

Yorkshire have reached the knockout stages for the last five years, twice reaching the semi-finals.

They were on the wrong end of a sparkling James Vince century as Hampshire beat them in the semi-final at the Ageas Bowl last year and went on to be champions.

“It will be nice to have the England lads available at the start.

“We have a strong squad and options this year.

“We have spoken before about not having options in the spin bowling department or with pace through the middle when we lost Rash and Liam (Plunkett). But that’s changed.

“We have Duanne (Olivier) and Mat Pillans, who both have pace, and Josh Poysden’s leg-spin. He will feature heavily.

“I’m confident we have all bases covered.

“We have a good game plan in 50-over cricket. We just need to get over the last hurdle and get to Lord’s.

“Our challenge has always been to maintain the momentum at the back end of the competition when we’ve lost our England players.

“But it’s encouraging in many ways that the England players will only be available for a few games this year rather than the full group stage and then disappear for the knockouts.

“Last year, we went to Chelmsford and had Karl Carver playing his first game of the season in the quarter-final. That type of thing shouldn’t happen this year.”

Gale is likely to rest and rotate his bowling attack as Yorkshire contend with their first three group games in five days.

Team news

In come leg-spinning all-rounder Adil Rashid, who is available for the first three Royal London One-Day Cup fixtures, and David Willey, who is also available for a minimum of the first three 50-over matches. The pair will look to play themselves into form ahead of England’s ICC World Cup campaign which gets underway at the end of May.

Jack Leaning, who scored an unbeaten 77 in victory at Hampshire, will continue to hone his red-ball skills in a two-day Second XI friendly against Lancashire at Scarborough, which starts this morning.

Matthew Waite, who has impressed during the early part of club’s Specsavers County Championship campaign, is rested as First XI coach Andrew Gale looks to share the bowling.

13-MAN SQUAD TO FACE LEICESTERSHIRE FOXES

Gary Ballance
Tim Bresnan
Harry Brook
Ben Coad
Adam Lyth
Duanne Olivier
Steven Patterson (Captain)
Mat Pillans
Josh Poysden
Adil Rashid
Jonathan Tattersall (Wicketkeeper)
Tom Kohler-Cadmore
David Willey

Jonathan Doidge says…

After the triumphant return from the weekend’s crushing defeat of Hampshire in the Specsavers County Championship, the challenge in that competition is put on hold until next month, as attentions turn to the white ball.

With competitions that we have known as one-day cricket since the old Gillette Cup was first contested in 1963, the ever-evolving sport will wave goodbye to the Royal London Cup after this year’s Lord’s finale, downgrading it to a ‘development’ competition. Therefore, now is the time is now if the Vikings are to sample another decider at HQ.

Wednesday’s visit of Leicestershire Foxes sees the home side welcome back England white ball stars Adil Rashid and David Willey, while Tim Bresnan is also likely to feature. The World T20-winning all-rounder missed the opening championship match due to injury, and had to sit out the win against Hampshire when it was decided to continue with the same team that had drawn at Trent Bridge.

Although neither Joe Root nor Jonny Bairstow are available, the Vikings’ batting line up is deep enough to set or chase down good scores, while the bowling attack has the raw pace of Duanne Olivier, the guile of Rashid, and the consistency of Steve Patterson, among other assets.

The Foxes began their Division 2 championship campaign with a comfortable defeat of Sussex, but they arrive at Emerald Headingley on the back of an innings defeat to Worcestershire and knowing that they have lost five off the reel to Yorkshire, so recent history is very much against them.

Skipper Paul Horton, Aussie Mark Cosgrove and Hasan Azad were all responsible for half centuries during their Hove win, while Tom Taylor bagged his first 10-wicket match haul. If they all take to the field for this match, then Andrew Gale’s men have some challenges to overcome if they to get their white ball campaign off to a winning start.

Milestones

Potential batting milestones in Yorkshire v Leicestershire on 17th Apr 2019

  • AU Rashid needs 76 runs to reach 500 runs in List A matches at Leeds
  • PJ Horton needs 132 runs to reach 3000 runs in List A matches

Potential bowling milestones in Yorkshire v Leicestershire on 17th Apr 2019

  • NJ Dexter needs 2 wickets to reach 50 wickets in List A matches

Match statistics

  • Yorkshire have won all of the last five List A matches between these two counties.
  • Yorkshire’s score of 376 for three at Leicester in 2016 is its second-highest total against a first-class county in all List A cricket. Leicestershire’s highest against Yorkshire is 302 for seven at Headingley in 2008.
  • Travis Head’s 175 at Leicester in 2016 is Yorkshire’s second-highest individual innings in all List A matches. The third-wicket stand of 274 which he shared with Jack Leaning (131 not out) is Yorkshire’s highest partnership for any wicket in all List A cricket. Leicestershire’s highest score against Yorkshire is 108, this having been achieved twice.
  • The feat of scoring a half-century and taking four wickets in a List A match has been achieved by only one player for either county in these matches. In 2001 Michael Vaughan scored 92 and took for for 46.

The opposition

  • Head coach: Paul Nixon
  • Captain: Paul Horton (CC/RL50), Colin Ackermann (T20)
  • 2018: CC 6th in Div 2, RL50 8th in North, T20 8th in North

It’s all change in terms of the squad list at Grace Road for 2019. Out have gone a host of players, including Ben Raine (Durham) and Zak Chappell (Notts). In have come bowlers Chris Wright, Will Davis and Arron Lilley.

The Foxes will again look to prolific Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Abbas to lead their attack. He took 50 Division Two wickets last summer and plays four-day and one-day cricket this summer.

Paul Nixon’s side improved in Championship cricket last season, winning five of 14 games. They will hope to continue that alongside better white ball displays.

Paul Horton, who is club captain, will split the captaincy duties with fellow batsman Colin Ackermann. The latter takes charge of the T20 side.

Fast bowler Ben Mike, 20, is one to watch having taken 19 wickets in his first four Championship matches last September.

Last time out

Centurion Adam Lyth ensured Yorkshire comfortably reeled in a target of 294 to beat Leicestershire by nine wickets at the Fischer County Ground, Grace Road and give their Royal London one-day Cup hopes a much needed boost.

Matthew Fisher claimed a superb 3-40 from 10 overs during his first match of the season following a side tear suffered, ironically, whilst bowling here in pre-season.

The Foxes, who elected to bat, posted 293-9 before Lyth and Tom Kohler-Cadmore continued their excellent form at the top of the order in this competition to secure a second win from five matches.

The pair shared 153 inside 23 overs. While Kohler-Cadmore hit 74 off 71 balls, Lyth expertly pushed on to 132 not out off 127 balls with 15 fours and two sixes.

Che Pujara’s classy unbeaten 81-ball 75 also marked his fourth successive score above 50. The win was secured with 3.3 overs remaining.

Weather forecast

Outlook for Wednesday to Friday

Over the next few days, high pressure over Scandinavia will bring a good deal of dry and settled weather. There will be good sunny spells too. The nights will be dry with clear spells but also some mist and fog patches forming at times. Temperatures will be on the rise with moderate south-easterly winds.

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