ANDREW Gale wants to return to the top of the order in Yorkshire's team for the NatWest T20 Blast this summer.
The Yorkshire captain is keen to forge an explosive opening partnership with Australian overseas star Aaron Finch, having made way for Kane Williamson during the latter stages of last season's event.
With the New Zealander not available for the 2015 competition, Gale has made Jason Gillespie and Martyn Moxon aware of his desire to help the Vikings maximise the first six overs of powerplay.
The White Rose skipper had a forgettable Twenty20 campaign last year, scoring just 135 runs in ten matches with a top knock of 55 and seven single-figure scores.
But since moving to open in Twenty20 cricket in 2007, Gale has arguably been Yorkshire's most consistent batsman in that format.
Unfortunately, his form has slipped during the last three seasons and he has only scored two half-centuries in 24 innings since the start of 2012.
Gale has adapted a couple of things in his set-up at the crease during this winter's training programme and hopes they will benefit him.
"I have spoken to Martyn and Jason and made them aware that I want to open the batting in Twenty20 cricket," he said.
"That's where I've had most of my success during my career in Twenty20 and I feel like that's where I'm most suited to bat.
"Twenty20 didn't go as well as I wanted last year. I adapted my game for Championship cricket, which sort of had an effect on my Twenty20 game.
"But I've done a lot of one-day and Twenty20 practice over the last six weeks or so and I feel like I've had to strip my game back a bit this winter to adapt a few things.
"Opening the batting in one-day and Twenty20 cricket is what I've done for the majority of my career, although it's a bit different in one-day cricket now because you don't quite need to be as explosive at the top of the order with it being 50 overs.
The first opportunity Gale will get out in the middle to demonstrate the improvements in his 20-over game will come on Yorkshire's current pre-season tour of the United Arab Emirates.
The Vikings face Lancashire Lightning in the semi-finals of the Emirates Airline T20 event on Friday.
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