COACH Andrew Gale was a happy man after seeing his Yorkshire side claim the two points required to secure Division One safety during the opening day of their Specsavers County Championship clash with Worcestershire at New Road.

Worcester closed on 319-8, but in taking six wickets the White Rose knocked the fear of relegation on the head.

Jack Brooks led the way with an excellent 5-83 - his third five-wicket haul in the last five games since announcing he will be leaving for Somerset.

Home opener Daryl Mitchell hit a fine 127, his second Championship century against Yorkshire this season.

While admitting that his side weren’t at their best overall yesterday, he reserved praise for 20-year-old debutant James Logan, the left-arm spinner who plays for Farsley and bowled 10 wicketless overs for 40 and was bowling at England star Moeen Ali on his way to a flighty 60. “I thought the day was quite patchy,” said Gale.

“Obviously our aim was to come and get the two points first of all, but I thought we couldn’t really sustain pressure for long periods.

“I think there’s a few tired bodies out there. You can see that. The lads have been playing under a lot of pressure for the last few weeks, and it takes it out of you.

“In the last couple of hours, they looked tired.

“We missed a couple of key chances, but fair play to Worcester. They fought pretty hard. We’ll come back fighting.

“We didn’t want it to be a nipper, so it’s nice to get the two points. Now we’ve got them, we want to finish the season strongly.

“It’s a used pitch and was damp on top at the start.

“For the second half of the day, it was quite easy to bat.

“I think day two will be the easiest day to bat. It’s dented a bit so the lads tell me, so it might be tricky to bat on the third or fourth day.”

Gale hailed departing seamer Brooks, who is playing his last game for the county and is going out with a bang.

“Brooksy has been outstanding, and it’s testament to the man,” said Gale.

“He’s obviously not going to be with us next year, and it would have been easy for him to fade out until the end of the season, but he hasn’t.

“He’s put a real shift in for us, and he’s one of the key reasons why we’re still in Division One.”

On Logan, he added: “It was quite tough for him bowling at Moeen Ali when he’s in that sort of mood, and he took him down a bit, but I thought he did a decent job for us. He’ll be better for the experience.”