Yorkshire suffer Gale blow

Yorkshire's hopes of avoiding relegation in the County Championship have been dealt a blow after their captain, Andrew Gale, was ruled out for the rest of the season with a broken wrist.

Gale was hit in the nets by Oliver Hannon-Dalby and x-rays confirmed the severity of the injury which means he'll be sidelined as Yorkshire try to retain their Division One status. They are currently eighth, four points behind Worcestershire who have a game in hand, and play Sussex this week in a vital game.

"It hurt badly at the time but not for one minute did I think it was a break. I was happy to keep on batting," Gale told the Yorkshire Post. "But Sunday morning I woke up and it had stiffened and I knew then something was seriously wrong.

"Before this injury I've only ever missed one game through my career. When you look at it like that, I've been lucky to have got to the age of 27 without any serious injury. Given the situation we are in, though, this is awful timing."

Gale is Yorkshire's second-highest Championship run-scorer with 769 at 40.47 in a season where their top-order has struggled. The loss of the captain has also been compounded by the absence of Jacques Rudolph who has been called away to a South Africa training camp.