Gale driven by success not money

5:00pm Friday 4th July 2008

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Yorkshire opener Andrew Gale has described tomorrow’s Friends Provident Trophy quarter-final against Essex at Chelmsford as the most important day of his cricketing career.

And the 24-year-old left-hander has revealed that, given the choice between the millions of Twenty20 or an appearance in a Lord’s final, then he would choose the latter every day of the week.

“I have played a few Twenty20 quarter-finals but this Friends Provident semi-final is probably the biggest game of my career so far,” he confirmed.

“There is more history and prestige about going down there and playing at Lord’s. It would be awesome for me to go and win a Lord’s final with Yorkshire.

“There is a lot more money involved in Twenty20 and there is all this talk about the $5m in India. But I would take a Lord’s final any day.”

Obviously though, he may not have to choose. Todmorrow’s fixture is the first of two knockout games in three days which will shape the club’s season.

Gale is convinced a win against the Eagles will give the Tykes much-needed momentum ahead of Monday’s Twenty20 Cup quarter-final against Durham at the Riverside.

“For us the next three days, Saturday through to Monday, are vital to our season,” he continued.

“We could get through to the final on Saturday and then the finals day on Monday. Or we could be out of both and end up petering away in the Championship.

“I think that it is very good that they are quite close together. If we do win on Saturday it will give us that confidence to go into Monday and win that game too.”

Dewsbury-born Gale says he has found it hard to adapt to the aggressive nature of opening the batting in both forms of limited overs cricket this season.

His highest score in the Friends Provident Trophy was 68 against Durham at Headingley, his only 50-over 50 this term, and his top Twenty20 score was 45 in the win against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge last week.

“I have performed particularly well in the Championship this season, and I wouldn’t say that I have been out of form in the one-day game,” he continued. “But the role that I play in one-day cricket, opening the batting, is a tough job to do.”

Pakistan pace ace Rana Naved-ul-Hasan has been given the all clear to feature after coming through three second team one-day games earlier this week but Craig White misses out with sciatica.