ANDREW GALE has been appointed as one of Darren Lehmann’s coaching assistants at the Northern Superchargers for next summer’s Hundred competition.

Yorkshire coach Gale will work alongside Craig White and Durham’s Neil Killeen as aides to the Australian.

The Hundred will clash with the Royal London one-day Cup, meaning Gale is likely to briefly hand over the Yorkshire head coach’s role to Rich Pyrah, currently bowling coach with the county.

Gale has revealed that he only played a bit part in the planning for last Sunday’s draft, in which openers Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Adam Lyth were selected for the Superchargers.

The former captain is expecting their replacements at the top of the order to come from within the current White Rose squad and has praised Pyrah’s impact as bowling coach ahead of his step up.

“I’m one of Darren’s assistants, and I’m looking forward to it,” confirmed Gale.

“It will be a good opportunity for me to learn from Darren. I’ve played with him and know him as a player but not as a coach.

“I’m looking forward to shadowing him and seeing what he’s all about. Hopefully I can pick up positive things that he does and bring it into my own coaching style.

“I’d imagine the Hundred will be a pretty busy time, so I think I will have to hand over my role.

“There will be a lot of travelling, practice days leading into games, and it will be a high-pressured environment. That means I can’t split my time between the two.

“I think Rich Pyrah is going to run the one-day Cup campaign while I’m away.

“For Rich, it will give him valuable experience managing a first-team environment. He’s been excellent as a bowling coach and working alongside me, but this is another experience.”

On the preparation for the Hundred draft, which saw Lehmann select fellow Aussies Aaron Finch and Chris Lynn alongside Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman as his three overseas players, Gale said: “My part was very minimal.

“It wasn’t something I wanted to get involved in to be honest.

“I will obviously have a bias towards my own (Yorkshire) players and wanted as many of them to be involved.

“I pushed their names as much as I could, but other than that he asked myself, Craig White and Neil Killeen specifically about players he didn’t know about around the county circuit.

“I didn’t really know who he was going to go for.

“I had an inkling Aaron Finch would be a pick and that he wanted Lythy and Tom. Other than that, I didn’t know anything else.”

Yorkshire will have six players involved in the Hundred; Jonny Bairstow (Welsh Fire), Kohler-Cadmore and Lyth, Adil Rashid and David Willey (all Superchargers) and Joe Root (Trent Rockets).

That number could rise with injury and international replacements, while there is also one additional wildcard pick to be added to each squad closer to the tournament, taking into account good early summer form.

“I thought maybe a couple more of our lads would have been picked up.

“Lythy and Tom were the two I expected from the draft.

“I thought someone might have taken a punt on a Matthew Fisher or Harry Brook as young lads. They might have got a £30,000 pick like Eddie Byrom did (Manchester Originals).

“But I guess it just shows to our lads they’ve got a lot to prove.

“It’s more disappointment really that more Yorkshire lads didn’t get picked.

“If they’re playing alongside the world’s best players, they’re only going to get better and improve.

“Having said that, it does give us a good chance in the 50-over competition. We haven’t been damaged too much and will have a pretty settled team.

“I think we have enough in house to cover Tom and Lythy.

“Obviously, the lads who come in won’t be at the level they are because they’ve been very successful in white ball cricket over the last few years.

“It will take time, but it gives opportunity. All you want is someone to come in, show you what they can do and give you a headache after the 100-ball competition.”