Andrew Gale: Yorkshire captain banned for final two games

Gale has 562 runs in 13 Championship matches this season

Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale has been banned for the final two County Championship games of the season.

The punishment follows an altercation with Lancashire's Ashwell Prince on the third evening of his side's innings and 18-run win at Old Trafford.

Gale, 30, was reported by the match umpires for "using language or gesture that is obscene or of a serious insulting nature".

He was also punished for dissent in the previous Roses game in May.

Both offences earned him six disciplinary points and any player accumulating 12 in a two-year period receives an automatic suspension.

An England and Wales Cricket Board statement said: "The Cricket Discipline Commission will also consider whether any further action needs to be taken in relation to Mr Gale."

The left-handed batsman, who has represented England Lions, has been Yorkshire skipper since taking over from Anthony McGrath in 2009.

Earlier this season, he dropped himself for a Championship game at Lord's against Middlesex, who scored 472 runs in the fourth-innings to win the game.

Yorkshire were led on that occasion by England's Joe Root.

The White Rose county, who last won the title in 2001, have a 26-point lead over Notts in the Division One table.