Yorkshire's suspended captain Andrew Gale's celebrations inappropriate: England Cricket Board

Andrew Gale

Yorkshire’s suspended captain Andrew Gale’s celebrations with the team after winning the County Championship has not gone down well with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), which had banned him from officially receiving the Championship trophy as a disciplinary measure for him abusing Ashwell Prince during the team’s previous encounter, against Lancashire.

This being his second such offence, the 30-year-old was also handed out a 2-match ban, thereby ruling him out for this fixture Yokrshire, batting first, mounted up 532 runs on the board before dismissing the Nottinghamshire side twice for scores of 203 and 177 to win by an innings and 152 runs, to lift the title.

Stand-in captain Joe Root collected the trophy, and, as soon as the official ceremony was over, Gale, watching his teammates from balcony thus far, was seen rushing down; he then held the trophy aloft and let out a roar as the crowd joined him.

The ECB, reacting to this incident, issued a statement saying, “It was not felt appropriate for Mr Gale to be involved in today’s Liverpool Victoria CC Division One trophy presentation at Trent Bridge.”

The Board is also reportedly considering whether this could be ruled as a breach of their notice, it is learnt.

Speaking on the historic triumph, their first in 13 years, Root said: “It’s massive. For a big club like us not to have won anything for such a long period of time is obviously very frustrating. To be fair I think the lads deserved it they have played exceptionally well all year in all departments.

Priding the team’s culture of developing home-grown players, with 10 out of 11 graduating via the county’s academy, he said “I think the majority of the team are Yorkshire-born players. Hopefully that continues, we’ve got some great young players coming into the squad. That’s something we pride ourselves on going forward.”

Mixed reactions

England international Jonny Bairstow, also a part of the Yorkshire team, sympathised with Gale. Highlighting his captain’s contributions to the team, the youngster said: “I’m absolutely gutted for Andrew, not being able to be on the pitch with us at those final moments, because he’s been such a crucial part in what’s been a fantastic season for Yorkshire.

"To drop himself at the start of the season at Middlesex shows the integrity of the bloke and shows how much the county means to him. It was a real big team performance today and something we really wanted to do for Galey being sat up there.

"It’s definitely not soured it but it’s still disappointing to find out the day after it happened that all of a sudden he’s banned. But that’s the way that things have panned out. We’ve moved on from that, taken it on the chin and come here and put on a fantastic display."

Yorkshire chairman Colin Graves, also the ECB deputy chairman, said: "I don’t want to get involved with all the behind the scenes bit. Andrew Gale is under a suspension notice from the ECB. So to present the trophy to someone who’s under suspension was not the correct thing from the ECB point of view. “It hasn’t been easy but let’s pass on that one and move on, that’s history."