Self-sacrifice is not the first thing that comes to mind when recalling the deeds of Yorkshire cricket captains but that is exactly what Andrew Gale, the current incumbent, has done at Lord's today after dropping himself to accommodate Joe Root.
Yorkshire are playing Middlesex in the County Championship in a titanic contest that could hinge on the nous of a savvy captain. But Gale has forfeited that to help England’s cause by making way for Root to play his first proper game since the latter shattered his thumb in the West Indies eight weeks ago.
Yorkshire are many people’s favourites to win the Championship this season and their supporters will see this enabling of Root, a player who will spend most of the season playing international cricket, as counter to those ambitions. But England generates most of the money that counties rely upon for their continued survival as Colin Graves, the club’s chairman, is only to well aware.
Previous Yorkshire captains from Geoffrey Boycott, Ray Illingworth, Brian Close all the way back to Lord Hawke would not have been so obliging, and would have surely placed the county’s needs before those of the country.
But England’s needs are paramount these days and once Root regained fitness someone had to make way. On this occasion, once rank had been discounted and the meritocracy of the form book had been applied that player was Gale.
In his absence Root was also made captain but fluffed his first task by losing the toss on a seaming pitch, an event that consigned Yorkshire to batting first.
It did not get any better for Root when he batted either, Steven Finn dismissing him lbw for a five-ball duck.