Andrew Gale put the anger management techniques he was subjected to for previous transgressions to the test after being embroiled in further on-field controversy at Headingley.
The Yorkshire captain, in only his second match back following an ECB ban for improper conduct against Lancashire last season, was given out after mis-hitting a navel-height full toss to terminate the champions’ first innings.
He did well to keep his cool on the evidence presented. Agonisingly, the delivery in question from Boyd Rankin left Gale four runs shy of an 18th first-class hundred and a heated reaction to it would perhaps have led to further censure.
The ball was still towering skyward when Gale gestured to square-leg umpire Jeremy Lloyds with his hand to question its legitimacy. Law 42.3.2 states that any delivery that passes the batsman in a standing position at waist height should be called no-ball. After Sam Hain completed the catch at cover, he asked Steve Garratt, at the bowler’s end, to confirm he was out and was told tea was being taken.
The incident was witnessed by Stuart Cummings, the former rugby league referee who is now one of the four cricket liaison officers on the county circuit. Cummings spoke to Gale and the visiting captain, Varun Chopra, after play and has access to video footage.
Disciplinary issues remain the jurisdiction of the umpires rather than the CLOs but Cummings said: “If they have an issue they will report it in due course but I have no knowledge of any issue they have.”
Gale, who was at the crease when Cheteshwar Pujara was scooped up on the rebound by the Warwickshire wicketkeeper Pete McKay 24 hours earlier, said: “Controversy seems to follow me around, doesn’t it? Umpires make mistakes. Let’s move on.
“I was a bit shocked but I kept my mouth shut and took the decision. The guy was bowling 85 miles an hour and if that had been a Twenty20 game there would have been no qualms about it because the benefit always goes to the batsman.”
This was Gale’s best innings since scoring an unbeaten hundred against Middlesex at Scarborough last July, and his ninth-wicket partnership of 54 with Jack Brooks took the champions past the 286-run follow-on target.
But courtesy of Rankin, who registered a County Championship best for the second match in succession, Warwickshire remain in the box seat. England’s forgotten Irishman – he was overlooked for next week’s one-day international against his fellow countrymen – has a liking for Leeds. In the corresponding fixture two years ago, he ransacked Yorkshire’s middle order with a succession of bumpers to set up a victory chase of 173 only for rain to have the final say on the fourth day. History could yet repeat itself with more wet weather forecast.
One player who has done enough to earn an international recall is Gale’s brother-in-law, Tim Bresnan, and he sent Chopra back cheaply for the second time as Warwickshire closed 240 runs to the good.
“I haven’t thought about England recently. I’m trying to take it one game at a time with Yorkshire. From an England point of view, we’ll see how it goes. Hopefully, if I take some wickets and score some runs then I can be kept in mind for the national side during the summer,” Bresnan said.
