ANDREW Gale believes Matthew Fisher has taken to first-team cricket like a duck to water.

The 16-year-old fast bowler, currently on duty with England under-19s for their one-day series with world champions South Africa, has taken two wickets in three Royal London Cup one-day matches this season and three in five in all List A cricket, dating back to last year.

Fisher last year became the youngest player to ever feature in a competitive county match and although he has not yet returned a haul of real note, he has certainly not looked out of place.

He impressed for the under-19s at last winter's World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, a tournament in which England reached the semi-finals.

Now he has every chance of playing in the knockout stages of the Royal London Cup competition as Yorkshire look to win their first piece of one-day silverware since 2002, when they beat Somerset in the C&G Trophy final at Lord's.

"I'm not surprised with his performances as such, even though you're always surprised I guess when a 16-year-old shows the kind of maturity that he has done," admitted skipper Gale.

"The lad just doesn't show any nerves at all. Even when he's fielding, where you'd maybe expect to see a few signs of nerves, he just looks at home in first-team cricket. He's very mature.

"When I gave him the ball in the game against Worcester, I asked him if he wanted his fine-leg up and cover back and his response was 'I never get driven'.

"For a 16-year-old lad to say that in professional cricket, it shows how confident he is. He just backs himself and his skills."

If Yorkshire guarantee a home quarter-final with a top-two finish by beating Hampshire in their last Group A match at Southampton on Thursday, the match will be played at Headingley on either Tuesday, August 26 or Thursday, August 28.

The other option open to Yorkshire would be Friday that week but they are steering clear of that day because Leeds Rhinos are playing rugby league rivals St Helens.