Jason Gillespie says Yorkshire’s top order batting must improve as they bid to regain the Specsavers County Championship title next summer.

The White Rose county failed to make it three Championships in a row last week when they suffered a third defeat of the season to champions Middlesex at Lord’s, with the hosts winning their first Division One crown since 1993.

Yorkshire have been nowhere near their best this summer in winning five matches, highlighted by issues with their top order.

Gillespie, the county’s outgoing coach after five years in charge, highlighted the issue when he said “we’ve found ourselves every second innings we’ve played all summer 60-3 or worse”.

Openers Alex Lees and Adam Lyth both topped 1,000 Championship runs for the season, but Gary Ballance and Tim Bresnan were the only others to reach the 700 mark.

All-rounder Bresnan’s average of 48.13 was the best of any Yorkshire player who made more than five appearances in 2016.

Gillespie’s point is made clear by first-innings scores of 41-3, 85-4, 24-3, 45-3, 74-5, 51-6, 57-3, 97-7 and 53-4 across the 16 matches.

“That’s something we can be better at, and we’ve identified that,” said the Australian, who returns home to Adelaide next weekend after Yorkshire’s end of season gala dinner on October 6.

“As in all cricket, your top five need to do the bulk of the scoring and the work.

“The strength of our middle order has been able to bail us out on a number of occasions.

“We showed against Somerset at home that we were exposed when the middle and bottom didn’t do the job. We got bowled out without a batting point.

“They’re the little areas that can be worked on moving forwards.”