Yorkshire's Andrew Gale cool on missing six stars on England duty

Captain Andrew Gale is upbeat on Yorkshire's chances of defending the County Championship title, despite starting the campaign without six players away on England duty.

England start a two-day warm-up in the West Indies on Monday as they look to bounce back from a lacklustre World Cup campaign with the squad boasting half a dozen players from Yorksire - Jonny Bairstow, Gary Ballance, Adam Lyth, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid and Joe Root.

We do have other players and it’s all about performing as a team and getting consistency in that trophy. We do want to do well in that competition

Jason Gillespie's Yorkshire begin their defence of the Division One title against Worcestershire on Sunday and the skipper told Sky Sports News HQ: "It’s not ideal. As a county cricket club we are here to provide England players but you don’t expect to lose six all at once.

"It’s great to see the lads get recognition and hopefully some of them will get a good go in the West Indies.

"It will be very difficult for us missing six of our main players but it also provides opportunities for some of the younger players staking their claim.

"We’ve got a strong academy and we’ve shown in recent years we aren’t afraid to bring young players into the side and that’s exactly what we’ll do. The young ones in Abu Dhabi (for pre-season matches) did particularly well, like Will Rhodes and Karl Carver. These guys can come in again and stake a claim."

Yorkshire will be buoyed with the recent acqusition of India batsman Cheteshwar Pujara after missing out on Younus Khan who pulled out of a deal to become the county's overseas player.

On Pujara, Gale added; "I’m very excited. He's got a fantastic record in first class and Test cricket.

"I know him quite well and I played against him when I was the England Lions captain and he was the India A captain.  He’s a traditional old-style batsman who likes to occupy the crease and he makes big scores when he gets in."

Test Cricket

Yorkshire fans can also look forward to witnessing fireworks from Australian batsmen and World Cup winners Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell, who will be their overseas signings.

Finch is back for a second season at Headingley and will play in all formats from the end of his Indian Premier League commitments, while Maxwell will be available in the T20 Blast.

Gale is thrilled with his side's expectations in the shorter format of the game and said; "In recent years we’ve not done that well but getting those two box office names has shown our intent in this competition.

"We do have other players though, and it’s all about performing as a team and getting consistency in that trophy. We do want to do well in that competition."

Watch England’s series with West Indies, starting with the first Test from Monday April 13, live on Sky Sports 2