ANDREW Gale admits Yorkshire are caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the make-up of their bowling attack in the NatWest T20 Blast.

The Vikings’ campaign reaches a critical stage during the next five days, with matches against Durham at Headingley tonight, Derbyshire at Chesterfield on Sunday and Worcestershire at Headingley on Tuesday – three matches they realistically have to win.

Yorkshire’s quarter-final hopes are hanging by a thread following five defeats in nine matches.

The county’s hierarchy spoke at length during the winter about targeting limited-overs cricket this year following season after season of underachievement in Twenty20. They have only reached one Finals Day in 12 years.

Yorkshire re-signed Aaron Finch and recruited his fellow Australian batting star Glenn Maxwell, but things just have not worked out.

Finch and Maxwell have failed to find top form, while there has been no consistency in the bowling, owing largely to the fact that players have been rested and rotated for County Championship cricket.

“If results go our way, we could probably win four out of five to qualify,” said captain Gale.

“It’s been disappointing the inconsistencies we’ve had in Twenty20. It just seems to be the same as previous years, even though we’ve tried different things.

“The only thing is with the bowling attack. Jack Brooks has played a couple of games, we’ve had to play Steve Patterson the last few games, Tim Bresnan has played a lot of the games.

“They are probably not practicing the skills as they should be but I can’t ask them to practice any more than they are doing because last week we spent 160-170 overs in the dirt at Durham.

“You can’t then ask them to go out and bowl 20 yorkers at lunchtime or the day before the Lancashire game. They’ve got to be fresh.”

Gale says there will be changes against Durham tonight, another side riddled with inconsistency in this format.

England duo Adil Rashid and Liam Plunkett have been named in a 14-man squad.

Rashid has been released from Test duty to play tonight and on Sunday, while Plunkett’s inclusion on Sunday is more likely than tonight after recovering from a thigh injury.

Plunkett played in a second XI 50-over match yesterday and Yorkshire are likely to be cautious with the seamer and give him two days’ rest before returning to first-team action.

Fast bowling duo Ben Coad and Josh Shaw could make their T20 debuts, as could all-rounder Ryan Gibson.

Yorkshire’s 14-man squad: Gale (captain), Bairstow (wicket-keeper), Bresnan, Coad, Finch, Fisher, Gibson, Leaning, Lees, Maxwell, Plunkett, Rashid, Rhodes, Shaw.