Andrew Gale announced as Yorkshire's new skipper

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Yorkshire County Cricket Club confirmed the appointment of Andrew Gale as captain for the 2010 season at a press conference held at Headingley Carnegie Cricket Ground today.

Andrew becomes the 33rd Yorkshire player to be officially given the honour of leading the White Rose County and takes over the role from Anthony McGrath who skippered the team in 2009.

The 27-year-old Dewsbury born left-hander was voted Yorkshire CCC’s Player of the Year in 2009 after scoring over 1600 runs in all competitions. He will be the youngest Yorkshire captain since Brian Sellers took the job aged 26 in 1933.

Gale represented England at Under-15 through to Under-19 level, captaining the Under-19 team. He made his England Lions debut against Australia at Canterbury in 2009 and has spent much of the winter to date as a member of the England Performance Programme where he is a Category B player – estimated to be within one to three years away from full England honours. His aggressive captaincy of the Performance Programme side in gaining victory over the Nashua Titans on the recent trip to South Africa gained him positive media coverage.

Jacques Rudolph will continue in the role of vice-captain in 2010.

To top off a special day Andrew Gale also penned a new 3-year deal which keeps him at Yorkshire until the end of the 2012 season.

Speaking to White Rose TV ahead of today’s announcement, Andrew Gale said: “It’s a very proud day and a job I’ve always dreamed of doing. Ever since I pulled a Yorkshire shirt on aged 10 I’ve dreamed of being Yorkshire captain. You don’t think twice about accepting a job like this and you only have to look at the great names that have done the job before me. When Martyn asked me I was over the moon and I’m really excited about leading the team in 2010.

Martyn Moxon, YCCC’s Director of Professional Cricket said: “I’m very pleased with our decision to appoint Andrew as captain. He is a talented cricketer with a good cricket brain and is extremely enthusiastic to do well. We will have a young side in 2010 and a young captain at the helm - together they have the opportunity to gel as a team and really push this Club forward over the next few years. While we cannot guarantee instant success I believe we are developing a squad that will serve the county well in the future. I look forward to working with Andrew and wish him every success in his new role.”