JACK Brooks believes Yorkshire's match against Somerset at Scarborough in the Specsavers County Championship is a "must-win".

Yet that is not because the fast bowler believes their 42-point gap from fourth place to leaders Essex is getting out of hand with six games remaining.

"Essex have got a serious lead but we can't worry about other people," admitted the new ball seamer ahead of the Somerset clash, which starts on Monday.

"We haven't done over the years, so we're not going to start now. We just have to concentrate on ourselves. We know if we play properly, we'll win games.

"Not wanting to put extra pressure on but I think it is a must-win game purely because it's a home game.

"We have a good record at Scarborough and Somerset are down at the bottom. They're a team everyone seems to be beating. We need to go into it with the frame of mind 'we need to win'.

"We still have to play Essex twice. Even with their lead, we'll be there or thereabouts if we beat them twice.

"But each team has to win their home games because you know your conditions and can prepare for what suits your strengths.

"We have a good bowling attack and Scarborough tends to help us. It's just the away games – grinding out a strong draw or sneaking a win.

"We're still playing reasonable cricket and there's quite a few teams in the hunt, including us."

Not surprisingly, Brooks describes the last fortnight as a frustrating one for the White Rose county.

After beating Somerset by three runs in a thriller at Taunton early last month, they were beaten by an innings against Middlesex at Lord's before this week's rain-savaged draw with Surrey at Headingley.

Brooks said: "Somerset was such a big high. Off the back of that, we could have put ourselves in a really good position with some positive results. We have lost two important tosses over the last couple of games, which hasn't helped.

"To be fair, Middlesex played very well last week and we didn't have an answer. This week, we were on the back end of the toss and came up against a guy (Kumar Sangakkara) who's in really good form.

"I don't think we've bowled that badly over the last couple of games, we just haven't been on the right end of the decisions and had a bit of luck go our way. Missing Ryan (Sidebottom) wasn't ideal against Surrey but he'll be back for this game."

Brooks' frustration also extends to his own situation, following only six wickets in four Championship matches in 2017.

He said: "It's just been stop-start, having been injured pretty much since January. I just don't feel the rhythm I normally have and I'm not bowling as well as I'd like.

"When you don't take wickets, you start to feel a bit of extra pressure on yourself. But I've talked to the coaching staff and looked at footage. There's nothing massively wrong with my bowling, it's just a bit of tweaking.

"Once it clicks, I know what I'm capable of. I've got the full backing of the guys around me.

"I haven't really had too many tough periods in my career but when it does happen, I can usually turn it around pretty quickly. I'm long enough in the tooth to not worry too much about it."

"Scarborough has generally been a good hunting ground for me with the pace and carry. Hopefully I'm selected."

Somerset currently sit second bottom after seven Division One matches. They are without a win and 29 points from safety.