ANDREW GALE was largely a happy man after seeing Yorkshire’s Specsavers County Championship match against Essex at Emerald Headingley finish in a final-day draw.

Yorkshire claimed 11 points from their fifth Division One match of the season and consolidated their position in third, moving six clear of fourth-placed Essex.

They had much the better of their third draw, added to two wins, and now sit 25 points behind leaders Somerset.

“There were lots of positives, but frustration as well,” reflected the coach.

“Over the last two weeks we’ve played some really good cricket. Last week (against Hampshire), had we not lost time I think we’d have won that game.

“I’m not sure whether we’d have won this one. The pitch seemed to flatten out. But we were certainly in the box seat and drove the game.

“We had to make them follow on to get a result.

“We missed an opportunity there dropping Siddle on nought. But these things happen.

“On the whole, we’ve played some really good cricket and deserved to be on the right side of the result.

“I was really pleased with the opening partnership between Will Fraine and Lythy (Adam Lyth) on the first day, 77. It set us up nicely.

“I keep saying to the lads, ‘Can we start well, can we drive the game from the first session?’. If we start to do that, we put ourselves in better positions instead of having to fight back.

“I’m not getting too carried away. But we are playing some good cricket and competing with the good teams in this division. Hampshire and Essex are good teams. We just have to keep doing it.

“We have another good test next week at Guildford (starting Monday) against Surrey, who are looking to bounce back. We go down there with confidence, but we’ll have to play well.”