ANDREW Gale has reflected on Yorkshire’s group stage exit from this summer’s Vitality Blast, and admitted: “If we’re being honest, we probably didn't deserve to qualify.”

The White Rose’s coach saw his side lose their seventh game of 14 in the North Group against champions Nottinghamshire in a winner-takes-all clash at Emerald Headingley on Friday.

Both sides went into it on 14 points, but the Outlaws chased a target of 164 to win by seven wickets with an over to spare, and advance to the quarter-finals as a result.

“Throughout the competition we’ve played some good cricket but haven't been consistent enough,” said Gale.

“I’ve always felt we've been one step forwards, two back.

“We started off really well, but we never quite got momentum going. We’d win two and lose two.

“I know that’s the nature of the game, but the two games against Derby probably knocked the stuffing out of us a little bit in the middle of the comp.

“We just didn't do the simple things for long enough and consistently enough.”

In many ways, Notts are the benchmark for Yorkshire to aim at.

They won the Blast last year and, while they’ve often struggled to win quarter-final ties, they regularly seem to challenge for the trophy.

“I think they’re smart. They have a lot more experience than us,” continued Gale.

“Not having Adil Rashid was a big loss for us.

“We’d planned to have Rash and Puds (Liam Plunkett) throughout the middle period of the innings, but both have been unavailable for large parts.

“That game was crying out for Rash. It was a pitch where Rash would have really come into his own.

“We were tempted to play Karl (Carver), but to throw him into a game like that would have been a massive unknown. He’s got a bit of work to do has Karl.”

Gale added: “I thought 160 was about par. We could have maybe scraped our way to 170, but they bowled and fielded really well.

“We knew we needed early wickets in the power play, which we didn't get.

“Fair play to them. Every time we built a bit of pressure, they hit a couple boundaries or we bowled a bad ball. We could never get on top of the game.

“We knew the pitch would be tacky and similar to the Northants game here. It was a week-old wicket. It was over-prepared and crusty, and we thought we’d use it as a tactic.

“That’s why we thought 160 or 170 would keep us in the game, but we didn't bowl well enough.

“They have a lot of power players - Hales and Wessels up front. We had to get them early. Fair play to Hales, he saw it through.”