CAPTAIN Andrew Gale praised his Yorkshire side despite falling to a third LV County Championship defeat of the season against leaders Lancashire at Liverpool on Saturday.

Gale’s men failed to defend a target of 121 from the last 15 overs as the Red Rose won a thriller by six wickets with four balls to spare.

Left-arm spinner Gary Keedy took six wickets to bowl the White Rose out for 308 in their second innings before Sri Lankan Farveez Maharoof hit 31 not out off 19 balls in a hectic chase.

Gale said: “You’re always going to be up against it when you’re bowled out for 141 on the first day. But I said to the lads that after the first two sessions, to take it to the last over is a really good effort.

“I’m not one for making excuses – but, when you’re missing six first-team players, to fight like that, I’m proud of them.”

The captain’s only gripe was Yorkshire’s naivety in the field, allowing Lancashire’s batsmen to turn ones into twos and twos into threes far too regularly.

Gale continued: “They played well to knock them off, but I thought we showed a little bit of inexperience in the field.

“With the ball, a few of the lads missed their margins.

We’ve got a bit to learn there.

It was almost a kind of rabbit in the headlights situation.”

Yorkshire had looked on course to save the game for the majority of day four as Joe Sayers, Gale, Gary Ballance and Adil Rashid all passed fifty.

Sayers and Gale shared 115 inside 43 overs for the third wicket, spanning both days three and four, and they were both subjected to a volley of verbals from England pace bowler Jimmy Anderson.

Gale commented: “From my point of view, I wouldn’t want my players behaving in that manner.

“For someone so high up in the game, he should be trying to set an example and not going around behaving like he did.”

Ballance and Rashid then added 88 in 28 overs for the fifth wicket on a slow pitch.

Sayers batted for four and three quarter hours for his 75, Gale hit 60, Ballance (57) a maiden Championship half-century and Rashid 52.

But they lost five wickets for 23 runs to fall from safety before tea at 278-4 to choppy waters after the break at 301-9.

Keedy took three wickets for one run in seven balls after tea as seven of the eight Yorkshire wickets to fall on Saturday went to spin.

Last pair Steve Patterson and Oliver Hannon-Dalby then batted for 14.2 overs to frustrate the hosts. But it was just not long enough.

Rashid took three wickets, including those of Stephen Moore and Paul Horton with consecutive balls in the sixth over, to keep the game in the balance.

But Steven Croft, Gareth Cross and Maharoof cleared the ropes five times between them to ensure a home victory.

Yorkshire, boosted by the return of Jonny Bairstow, Ajmal Shahzad and Anthony McGrath, face Somerset at Taunton tomorrow.

SCORECARD

Lancashire v Yorkshire
At Liverpool.
Overnight: Lancashire 329 (P J
Horton 93, M J Chilton 77; S A Patterson4-
51). Yorkshire 141 (J J Sayers 53; M F Maharoof
4-35, G Keedy 4-44) and129-2.
Yorkshire Second Innings
J J Sayers c Horton b Keedy 75
A W Gale c Anderson b Keedy 60
G S Ballance b Keedy 57
A U Rashid st Cross b Croft 52
S M Guy c Anderson b Keedy 7
R J Sidebottom b Keedy 8
S A Patterson c Croft b Anderson 2
Ashraf lbw b Keedy 0
O J Hannon-Dalby not out 6
Extras (b2 lb9 nb6 pens 0) 17
Total (130.3 overs) 308
Fall: 1-13 2-48 3-163 4-190 5-278 6-287 7-
300 8-301 9-301
Bowling: Anderson 25.3-8-50-1. Chapple 14-
7-22-1. Keedy 54-10-133-6. Maharoof 9-3-
39-1. Croft 26-8-41-1. Procter 2-0-12-0.

Lancashire Second Innings
P J Horton c Lyth b A U Rashid 18
S C Moore c & b A U Rashid 19
S J Croft c Ballance b Sidebottom 28
G D Cross c Patterson b A U Rashid 11
M F Maharoof not out 31
K R Brown not out 6
Extras (b1 w5 nb2 pens 0) 8
Total 4 wkts (14.2 overs) 121
Fall: 1-39 2-39 3-64 4-85
Did Not Bat: M J Chilton, L A Procter, G Chapple,
J M Anderson, G Keedy.
Total Bonus Pts: Lancashire 6 Yorkshire 2
Sidebottom 7-0-58-1. Patterson 4-0-28-0. A
U Rashid 3.2-0-34-3.
Lancashire (22pts) beat Yorkshire (2pts) by 6 wkts