COACH Andrew Gale believes Yorkshire’s squad is not far away from taking the next step in their development and is sure he can deliver success at Emerald Headingley.

They finished fifth in Division One of the Championship but with three rounds remaining, they had an outside chance of winning the title, although that eventually went to Essex.

In white ball cricket, they frustratingly missed out on knockout cricket in the Royal London One-Day Cup and the Vitality Blast.

Gale said: “You’re learning on the job every day. I know there’s been a lot of criticism out there, but we’ve stuck to our guns.

“If my remit was to win the Championship this year, we’d have signed a load of players to do it. But we want to back our own players, give them the opportunity to try and win trophies.

“Anyone who has watched us regularly can see what we’re trying to do. There’s no quick fix, but we’re going in the right direction.”

“Hopefully next year, there will be more money given the international cricket at Headingley, the size of the crowd and the pouring rights. We’ll be able to bring in some good overseas players.

“It showed when we had Nicholas Pooran here, the big effect someone like that can have in T20 cricket.

“We have been criticised in recent years for our recruitment. But Keshav (Maharaj) and Dom Bess had a positive effect on our season. Kesh took 38 wickets in five games and tore it up for us.”

The club have made their recruitment intentions clear for 2020 - two domestic batsmen and strengthening their spin options, with the latter likely to be an overseas player.

Gale said: “In red ball cricket, I’d like to bring in one or two batters to add more competition. But it’s not easy recruiting players from other counties. There aren’t many with 10,000 first-class runs about.

“In white ball cricket, winning those close games gives you confidence, and we’ve been on the wrong end of too many this year.

“If we can bring in two T20 overseas players, the younger players will learn from them. I’d love to bring Pooran back for T20.

”He’s box office and can win a game on his own. I also feel we need someone who can take powerplay wickets and bowl at the death.”

Returning to his personal situation, he added: “I think I’ve got the respect of the dressing room and think I’ve created a real team environment.

“You don’t fight your way back into games from 13-4 like at Scarborough against Nottinghamshire if you haven’t got team spirit and desire.

“I still believe I’m the right man to take Yorkshire forward.”