Andrew Gale believes his Yorkshire squad is two to three years away from being genuine title contenders in the Specsavers County Championship.
Coach Gale is confident exciting times are on the horizon at Emerald Headingley, but he has urged initial patience with the county’s crop of young stars as they prepare to return to pre-season training at the end of the month.
Yorkshire’s recruitment ahead of 2018 stands at Josh Poysden, Mat Pillans and, most recently, Huddersfield-born batsman Will Fraine.
Gale has likened Yorkshire’s current development to that of the 2012 season when they won promotion from Division Two and went on to win Division One in 2014 and again the following summer.
Yorkshire finished the most recent campaign in fourth place in the top flight after a campaign beset by issues with injuries and unavailability.
“I’ve never known a season like it where there’s been so much uncertainty,” said Gale.
“It feels like every week something was happening right from the start of the season.
“Like I’ve said before, I always pride myself on good organisation. But some of the things last season, you just couldn’t see happening. It was challenging.
“But most of our stuff was done five weeks from the end of the season, contracts and stuff, and I felt that released a lot of pressure. You could see the team spirit really shone through.
“Being an inexperienced coach, I’ve asked other coaches ‘Is this the norm?’ Martyn (Moxon), for example, has been in coaching a hell of a long time and said ‘I’ve never seen a season like it’.
“It can only get easier from here.
