Combative Gale treads the tightrope

The anger management therapy Andrew Gale was required to undertake as part of his punishment for the Ashwell Prince incident that so marred the end of Yorkshire's title-winning season was put to the test as the Yorkshire captain found himself unwittingly embroiled in a new character test as he battled to repel Warwickshire.

Gale, 31, who was banned for four matches for verbally abusing Prince in a match at Old Trafford last autumn, was on 96 with Yorkshire nine wickets down when he was caught at cover off a Boyd Rankin full toss.

Replays suggested the ball was above the legitimate height -- that is, above the waist -- and should have been called as a no-ball, which gave Gale grounds to make a polite enquiry at least with the officials before leaving the crease - especially so perhaps with the match in the balance and Warwickshire identified by manner as one of the likeliest challengers to Yorkshire's title.

The worry for him, though, is that any suggestion of dissent risks attracting further punishment and he knew he had to tread carefully. Ironically, one of the umpires here is Steve Garratt, who along with Steve O'Shaugnessy had the duty to report Gale to the England and Wales Cricket Board following the clash with Lancashire's Prince.

Gale stretched out his hands in a gesture of query and stood his ground while Garratt conferred with his square-leg colleague, Jeremy Lloyds, before turning for the pavilion as the decision to give him out was upheld.

Aftrewards, Gale met the duty ECB cricket liaison officer, Stuart Cummings, but he was adamant that he had not overstepped the mark this time. In fact he had not so much questioned the legitimacy or otherwise of the delivery as whether he had actually formally been given out.

"I keep my mouth shut now," he said afterwards. "But I was not actually given out, in that the umpire did not raise the finger. I heard them call tea, so I just asked if I was out. They said I was, so I walked off. Obviously, I was a bit disgruntled to be out, but I'll take it on the chin."

Cummings, for his part, commented earlier that he "had no issue" with what he had seen of Gale's behaviour and was unaware of any action likely to be taken by the umpires.

It was a disappointment that the incident deflected from a stalwart innings, which gave Gale his highest score since his century at Scarborough last July. He hit 10 boundaries, pacing the innings carefully with the first objective, which he achieved under considerable pressure, of steering Yorkshire past the follow-on mark.

Some rash shots from several of his lower-order partners then saw him rapidly running out of partners, which explained some less careful strokes from his bat towards the end. In other circumstances, he might have dealt with the full toss differently. But with the inexperienced Matthew Fisher at the other end and Rankin steaming in in search of his second career best in consecutive matches, he was clearly not of a mind to hang about.

Gale's wicket did indeed completed a career best analysis of six for 55, eclipsing his six for 75 that the Irishman returned in Warwickshire's opening match of the season against Hampshire last week.

There was a degree of surprise expressed in some quarters that Rankin was not among the names announced in the England squad for the one-day international against Ireland next month. Although he had a difficult baptism in the 2013-14 Ashes, after which he contemplated giving up cricket altogether, he came back strongly enough last season to be named in the 30-man provisional squad for this year's World Cup.

He was overlooked this time, apparently, because of concern over a back injury, for which he is due to have an injection after this match. "It's just a niggle, not a major problem," he said. "I'm all right bowling but it can stiffen up a bit."

He did not look too inconvenienced on this occasion. With controversies book-ending his six-for after the contentious dismissal of Cheteshwar Pujara on the second evening, he picked up four in between, although three were down to poor shots.

Ian Westwood added an unbeaten 48 to his first innings 198 in the closing session. Warwickshire lead by 240 going into the final day, with eight wickets in hand and if the weather is kind to them, it is possible Jeetan Patel will be the man to avenge last season's two innings defeats on a pitch beginning to take spin.