ANDREW Gale says day-one centurion Harry Brook has set the example for Yorkshire's batsmen to follow this season after hitting 154 against Nottinghamshire in Potchefstroom.

The Burley-in-Wharfedale youngster, aiming for more regular first-team cricket this summer, made the perfect start to that bid on the opening day of Yorkshire's pre-season South African match programme.

The England under-19s captain underpinned an impressive day for the county as they posted 305-6 from 90 overs. Notts replied with 195-5 from 68.3 overs on a rain-interrupted second and final day.

Brook mastered an attack including Mark Footitt and Harry Gurney, who have been in and around England's senior Test and white-ball teams at stages in their careers.

Not surprisingly, the 19-year-old was delighted with his efforts and said: "It was an unbelievable start to an unbelievable tour so far.

"The weather has been amazing. The pitch was quite slow and low, so it was easy to bat on.

"You did have to work quite hard though, because the ball wasn't coming on as fast. You couldn't just play your shots and rely on timing for it to go to the boundary. You had to try and force it a bit.

"This is what I train hard for. All the boundaries were probably my strongest shots. I try to stick to three shots, which are the drive, cut and off the hips, so anything there I back myself to hit for a boundary."

Yorkshire coach Gale was just as pleased and said: "We've spoken a lot about our batting and being ruthless and Harry Brook epitomised that.

"He had to work hard to get in on a slow pitch but when he got in he went big. For us to be successful this year, that's exactly what we have to do. We need to be ruthless and I thought it was a very special innings.

"He was in control and never looked like getting out. He's had a fantastic winter with England under-19s and he's carried on that rich vein of form. He's put his name in the hat for that first game I guess already."

This was Brook's third century of 2018, having scored two for the under-19s at the World Cup in New Zealand through January, one in competition and one in a warm-up match.

He hit 21 fours and a six off 209 balls before retiring and was backed up by scores of 37 from Tim Bresnan and 26 not out apiece by Matthew Waite and Jonny Tattersall.

Yorkshire's next match on their South African warm-up tour is a 50-over clash with the students of Leeds/Bradford MCC Universities tomorrow.