YORKSHIRE will find themselves up against Australia's captain Ricky Ponting when they begin the second half of their Championship programme by taking on Somerset at Scarborough tomorrow.

Ponting joined up with Somerset last Thursday and went straight out to bat and made a dashing 20 in their Twenty-20 Cup game with Northamptonshire.

But Ponting has now had a chance to rest up for a few days and Yorkshire's pace bowlers will have to be on better form than of late if they are to prevent one of the world's best batsmen from flogging them around North Marine Road.

"I am really excited at the prospect of playing for Somerset and have been looking forward to it for some while," said Ponting.

"I have not had too much cricket lately with the cancellation of the tour to Zimbabwe and also missing out on a Test match and I am now eager to score a lot of runs while I am over here."

Despite Ponting's presence in the Somerset side, Yorkshire must still fancy their chances of winning the game and moving closer to the top three promotion spots in Division Two.

They are currently in fourth place and enjoy a game in hand over the top two clubs, Nottinghamshire and Glamorgan, but they must now make every game count if they are to gain promotion which is the main priority of director of cricket David Byas.

Yorkshire have won three of their eight matches but Somerset are still awaiting their first victory and five draws and four defeats have left them next to the bottom of the table, just five points in front of Durham.

With Yorkshire's regular captain Craig White out for the remainder of the season following a cartilage operation, left-hander Andrew Gale has been drafted into the squad and will probably open the batting with Matthew Wood if selected.

Gale will be making his Championship debut if he plays and he has earned his place on the back of some reasonable one-day performances but Chris Taylor can feel a little unfortunate to be left out.

Taylor has done quite well in two of his three Championship outings this season and in Yorkshire's last game against Hampshire at the Rose Bowl almost a month ago he kept one end blocked up while Phil Jaques made his way towards a brilliant double century at the other.

Definitely making his Championship debut for Yorkshire will be wicketkeeper-batsman, Ismail Dawood, who is being given an extended trial. Dawood has already taken part in some limited overs matches but had to drop out of the side for the semi-final of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy because he had already played for Herefordshire in a previous round.

Spinners Richard Dawson and Andy Gray are both included in the squad and both may play if Yorkshire think the pitch will turn later in the game.

Yorkshire from: Wood, Gale, McGrath, Lehmann, Lumb, Harvey, Dawood, Gray, Dawson, Silverwood, Kirby, Bresnan.

Updated: 10:35 Tuesday, July 20, 2004