Jason Gillespie is delighted with the way his Yorkshire players have turned their season around after being labelled as LV= County Championship relegation favourites on the back of an opening-round defeat against Sussex.

Yorkshire suffered an innings defeat at Headingley to kick off their return to Division One, with criticism coming from pundits and former players alike.

Gillespie and his players accepted they were below par but have recovered superbly by securing two wins and a draw to leave themselves well placed inside the top three in the table.

But their upturn in form will be tested against defending champions Warwickshire at Edgbaston, starting on Wednesday.

Yorkshire will be without England trio Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root and Tim Bresnan – they could feature from midway through day two if left out of the team for Thursday’s first Test against New Zealand – and injured fast bowler Jack Brooks.

Ryan Sidebottom and Liam Plunkett will come back into contention. While Sidebottom missed the last two matches due to rest and illness, Plunkett was rested from last week’s draw against Somerset.

Warwickshire will welcome back Lions trio Varun Chopra, Chris Woakes and Chris Wright after they missed their last match against Middlesex, although they will be without England pair Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott.

“I think we’re in a good place, there’s no doubt about that – especially after everyone was writing us off after the first game of the season,” said Gillespie.

“We just spoke about having that belief in our ability and going out there with a positive mind and good body language.

“We always talk about if someone just walks into the ground and can’t see the scoreboard, we want them to assume that we’re on top. That’s important. Even if we haven’t taken a wicket all session, we still want that person to assume that we’re on top.

“That’s the attitude we want to get across to the opposition. Even if we’re not quite at our best, we’re going to be positive in everything that we do. That’s something we really strive to do.”

Former Tykes bowler Oliver Hannon-Dalby will miss out for the hosts with a broken arm suffered while batting during a recent draw against Somerset.

Warwickshire, having played five matches so far – one more than Yorkshire – are two points behind with one win and four draws.

Meanwhile, Cleckheaton fast bowler Iain Wardlaw is in Scotland’s squad for two one-day internationals against Pakistan in Edinburgh on Friday and Sunday.

* Yorkshire’s one-day friendly against the MCC next month has been cancelled due to a lack of player availability.

The 50-over match scheduled for June 26 was to be part of the county’s 150th anniversary celebrations.

It was hoped that a number of world stars would turn out for the MCC after the Champions Trophy.

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