ANDREW Gale has urged his Yorkshire players not to "rest on our laurels" ahead of tomorrow's clash with champions Middlesex at Lord's.

Yorkshire are bidding for a third successive Specsavers County Championship win after beating Lancashire and Somerset in the last two rounds.

They currently sit second in Division One, six points off leaders Essex, with both the top two having won three of six games so far this season.

Middlesex may have won their last three meetings with Yorkshire at Lord's but they suffered a first Championship defeat in 21 against Lancashire at Southport last week and now sit just above the relegation zone in sixth with four draws and that loss.

Yorkshire coach Gale said: "They've been a bit of a bogey team for us over the last few years. They've not started as well as they'd like but we can't rest on our laurels. We have to be really on it.

"It's early days to talk about titles and what the league table looks like. We just have to keep smashing our processes.

"We're playing some decent cricket without playing great cricket. There's lots of areas we can improve.

"We just need to nail the batting. We haven't batted well consistently as a unit for a long time. We keep talking about it and hopefully it will be just around the corner."

Middlesex have been hit by injury and unavailability. They continue to be without Australian overseas batsman Adam Voges due to a calf injury. He missed the eight-wicket defeat at Southport last week.

They will also be without Dawid Malan due to England T20 duty and Nick Gubbins and Tom Helm, who are with the Lions for their four-day match against South Africa A at Canterbury.

Steven Finn, however, returns after his spell with England's squad at the Champions Trophy.