ANDREW Gale believes that Yorkshire's batting struggles in the Specsavers County Championship could be down to mental rather than technical issues.

Coach Gale has no doubt his players are good enough to succeed at the right end of Division One, despite the title now being out of the question.

But there is something missing, with the side bowled out for 113 and 131 in the two-day defeat against Essex at Scarborough earlier this week.

Yorkshire are now in a relegation battle following three defeats in their last four.

"The batting is coming to a head," said the former White Rose captain.

"Over the last two or three years, we've got out of trouble through individual success.

"I look down the teamsheet and believe in this group of players. I support the players. We've all seen glimpses of that top five and what they can do.

"There's players who can make big runs. It's just they're all out of form at the same time.

"It's not through lack of effort. If you see them in the nets the day before a game, they're working really hard, but it's something to do with when they get to the crease - everything goes out of the window.

"That can only be down to pressure and the expectation they put on themselves or from the outside. It's up to them to be honest with themselves and deal with that.

"We can continue to work hard in training, but it's about getting the mental side of the game right for me.

"It's that pressure that's stopping them succeeding.

"We have two psychologists at the club. They're there if any of the players need them."

Gale and his players were unfortunate to come up against an Essex side including two on-song seamers in Mohammad Amir and Jamie Porter, who shared 17 wickets.

Pakistani overseas quick Amir was fabulous for his career-best match figures of 10-72.

"He's a world-class bowler, there's no doubt about that. You are going to come up against that in county cricket. There will be good overseas players who will bowl good balls at you.

"That's part and parcel, and you've got to be up for the task. Unfortunately we weren't."

Yorkshire haven't been helped by injuries to key batting duo Gary Ballance (fractured finger) and Shaun Marsh (concussion).

Having said that, had Ballance been fit, he could well have been playing Test cricket for England anyway.

It all means that Yorkshire are looking nervously over their shoulders with four to play.

At the end of Monday's match, they were 39 points clear of second-from-bottom Somerset, who have two games in hand, including their ongoing clash with Surrey.

Middlesex and Surrey are also below Yorkshire and have two games in hand, including their ongoing fixtures this week.

They are Yorkshire's next two opponents next month: "September is going to be a big month," added Gale.

"All we can do is fight and hope to get back to the way we know we can play."

Before then, Yorkshire face a make or break two days in the NatWest T20 Blast on Friday and Saturday.

They face Lancashire at Headingley and Leicestershire at Grace Road as two of their three remaining group games.

They sit outside the top four and may need to win all three to qualify for the quarter-finals.