Jason Gillespie has challenged his Yorkshire players to produce the perfect game of County Championship cricket.

The White Rose coach is intent on ensuring the champions do not rest on their laurels as they hone in on back-to-back titles.

Yorkshire are 30 points clear of second-placed Middlesex with four matches to play and a game in hand.

And it looks likely they will be able to clinch the silverware when they travel to face their closest rivals at Lord’s in their next but one fixture next month.

Gillespie admitted he was happy to take the 11 points after yesterday’s final day of play with Sussex at Hove was rained off.

But he was quick to identify a couple of key areas in their game which must be better.

The Australian was not happy with their post tea bowling display on Sunday’s third day as Sussex scored 210 in the session and responded to Yorkshire’s first-innings 494 with 493-7.

He is also concerned by some top order batting issues. Not for the first time this season, they have struggled against the new ball and were forced into a recovery job from 22-2 on a largely docile pitch.

“We talk about it, ‘the perfect game, what does it look like?’ That’s something we challenge the lads with,” said Gillespie.

“Are you ever going to have the perfect game? Although it’s very rare, there’s nothing wrong with aspiring to it. If you get three quarters of the way there, you’re probably going to be in a decent position.

“We are continually looking for ways to improve, and that keeps you grounded and gives you a purpose.

“There have been day’s play when it would be hard to follow it this season. Day three at Worcester where we bowled them out cheaply and then chased down the runs, you can argue that was about as good a day as you can have.”

Gillespie talking about room for improvement has been a common theme this season.

It is clear they have not played their best cricket consistently, yet they are still streets ahead of the rest of county cricket in terms of their quality.

Reflecting specifically on the Sussex game, he added: “There are little things we need to sharpen up on.

“I was very pleased with our bowling until tea on day three, then I was a bit disappointed after that.

“Sussex came out and played really aggressively, but we just got away from our plan a little bit. You could tell that with the amount of runs scored square of the wicket, which suggests we bowled a bit short and wide at times.

“We’ve found ourselves 20-2 or 30-3 on a number of days this year, and that’s something we certainly need to address. We talk about a perfect performance, and that doesn’t suggest a perfect performance.

“A perfect performance would start with a 50 plus or century stand from your openers.”

Meanwhile, Gillespie confirmed the availability of England players Jonny Bairstow and Adam Lyth for Thursday’s floodlit Royal London one-day Cup quarter-final against Essex at Chelmsford. Joe Root, however, will not be available to feature.