When Andrew Gale, our captain at Yorkshire, goes on to lift the County Championship trophy at Lord’s at the end of our match with Middlesex it will be a hugely satisfying moment for him and everyone involved at this great club.
Defending our title has taken serious hard work, with the 2015 season throwing up plenty of fresh challenges. But our players have risen to each and every one of them. They have been brilliant and played some phenomenal cricket at times.
The news filtered through to us in the dressing room of the pavilion as we watched Galey batting beautifully out in the middle. With Nottinghamshire nine wickets down to Durham in their game at Trent Bridge, we began to anticipate the big moment. It started with a ripple of applause from beneath us and that’s when we knew. It was a lovely moment for the lads.
They came back for pre-season with a great attitude and were determined not to be one-hit wonders after last year’s title. It’s easy to say things like that in those moments when you are celebrating but to actually back the words up with actions is the most pleasing thing for a head coach to see. I’m pleased as punch for them.
Galey, who heartbreakingly fell two runs short of a century on Wednesday, should be lifting the trophy for the second year running, of course, but events at the end of last season denied him that moment. To say I was disappointed at the time would be the understatement of the century; I was devastated for him. It would be wrong to give my views on the reasons behind his suspension and I won’t be drawn to comment on it now.
But I know there were many who disagreed with it from the messages we received. Even a mate of mine, Jonno, telephoned me from back home in Australia to tell me he thought it was a cruel and vindictive decision.
That day at Trent Bridge, when he had to stand to one side as Joe Root lifted the cup, has been a massive driving force for us. While it went unsaid in our dressing room, it was obvious from watching the lads that they wanted to go on and repeat our success this season, for him as much as anyone.
It has been a squad effort. You cannot win the title with just a few people. From our director of cricket, Martyn Moxon, to the coaches – even the masseuses and our yoga teacher – the support staff have been incredible in working to give the players the best chance they have to achieve their dreams, which is to win trophies for Yorkshire and represent their country.
The latter has certainly happened, with international call-ups throughout the summer. We started the season against Worcestershire with six players in the Caribbean on England duty and our captain suspended. Ryan Sidebottom injured a calf in that game and we still went on to win by 10 wickets.
It told me this squad had something about them. OK, I knew that already, but it really rammed it home.
The two games against Durham were probably the biggest results for us. At Chester-le-Street it took a seriously determined performance from two lads in particular to win by an innings, with a double century from Jonny Bairstow and 169 from Tim Bresnan turning 191 for six batting first into a match-winning total.
In the return fixture at Scarborough, we were 79 for five in our second innings before centuries from Glenn Maxwell and Adil Rashid set up victory by a margin of 183 runs. They were the games when I knew we were on to something special because Durham are a quality, never-say-die team.
Bairstow has been superb for us this season, with over 1,000 runs so far. And Sidebottom too, stepping up here on the first morning to take three wickets in the first over that set us up beautifully. It has been satisfying to see young players like Jack Leaning and Will Rhodes come through and perform, too.
There was, of course, my being spoken to by the England and Wales Cricket Board earlier in the season about the head coach job, which eventually went to Trevor Bayliss. Lots of words were being written and spoken in the media but the lads never let the speculation affect them; they just kept fighting.
It’s been a different feeling being the hunted team this year but no less special in emerging on the other side with the title. To complete the season unbeaten would be another achievement and we will strive for it. We want as many points as we can get and to come back next year and do it all again. We will not be resting on our laurels.
