ANDREW Gale was happy to see his batting line-up learn from last week’s first-innings mistakes by posting a healthy day one total against Kent at Canterbury.

Yorkshire’s 358-8 total from 100 overs gives them the early advantage in this LV= Insurance County Championship fixture at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence.

Having elected to bat first, Adam Lyth’s 97 was the cornerstone of an innings which has already yielded four batting bonus points.

There were a series of other useful contributions as the visitors absorbed a collapse of sorts from 124-1 before lunch to 240-6 before tea.

Being greedy, Yorkshire’s position could be even stronger. But had you offered Gale and company this score at the start of the day, it surely would have been taken - especially after being bowled out for just 193 during the first innings of the round one draw with Glamorgan at Emerald Headingley.

The coach said: “It looked a good pitch this morning. I was slightly concerned when it became overcast and started drizzling (20 minutes before play). But I thought we applied ourselves well.

“Lythy set the tone, and we finished the day with a good score. Hopefully we can kick on tomorrow. It gives us a chance.

“I’m disappointed for Lythy because I thought he deserved a hundred.

“He looked in excellent touch again and carried on from last week. It was the same with Harry Brook (54).

“We knew it was going to do a bit with the new ball, but Kent probably didn’t put it in the right areas for long enough. But we cashed in really well. Every time they missed their line, we were excellent.”

Gale went on: “What disappointed me last week from a batting point of view was the first innings. We didn’t bat 60 overs on a better batting pitch than this one.

“We were always chasing the game, and we need to bat better to dictate the terms of the game. So I’m pleased with the way we went about our business.

“But we have a shorter tail this week when you have Dave Willey coming in at nine and Steve Patterson, who is no mug - as we have just seen, at 10.

“The (seventh-wicket, 52) partnership between between Jordan Thompson and Bessy took the sting out of a tricky situation.

“I’m really pleased we got to close with two wickets still in hand.”