It is hard to imagine now that at exactly this time last year Yorkshire were confident they would retain the County Championship and along the way rake in the cash from a new marketing set-up.

Yet not only did they plummet to the bottom of the table without a home win all season but things went so disastrously wrong financially that Yorkshire came within 24 hours of being put into receivership.

President Robin Smith saved the day by setting up the four-man Management Board - which includes himself and Geoff Cope - and convincing Yorkshire's 9,000 members that abolishing the general committee was the only way to salvation.

At 26, Bradford-born Anthony McGrath is Yorkshire's youngest captain since Brian Sellers, from Keighley, took over the reins 70 years ago and if McGrath can one day say he has achieved half of what Sellers managed then he will be well satisfied - and so will the fans.

The road ahead will not be easy for McGrath now that Yorkshire have lost the vastly experienced Aussie combination of Lehmann and coach Wayne Clark but he has made a good start and support from team-mates has been rock solid, none doing more by way of encouragement than Darren Gough.

Cope and McGrath are unequivocal in their belief that the main objective is for Yorkshire to lift themselves out of the Second Division at the first attempt in order to restore the pride which swelled chests in 2001 with the club's first title win in 33 years.

Yorkshire have been preparing and planning throughout the winter for the new campaign and few would argue with Cope that if Yorkshire can be at top strength then they are more than a match for anyone in either division.

Realistically, however, that will only rarely happen because Michael Vaughan will spend most of his time with England and the same can almost certainly be said of Matthew Hoggard, who should prove of greater value to his country on home pitches than he was on less than helpful Australian tracks during the winter.

Today's news that Craig White will be out of action for several weeks following his operation yesterday to remove a piece of rib rocked Yorkshire and has forced Cope seriously to consider engaging a second overseas player to support Australian left-hander Matthew Elliott.

Cope has already put out one or two feelers and he will be hoping that a top-class all-rounder is still available.

White's absence makes it more important than ever that Gavin Hamilton can show that he has got over the psychological problems which prevented him from bowling last season and caused him to miss virtually the whole of the first-team programme.

Hamilton is currently undergoing his first big test in the two-day friendly against Durham at Riverside but he may need to be exposed to the truly competitive environment of Championship cricket before Yorkshire really know if he has sorted himself out.

Also as yet unanswered is whether Darren Gough will be able to stand up to the rigours of regular cricket after so long out with serious knee

problems. Gough has given 100 per cent in his preparations for a return with Yorkshire but he and the club know that if he breaks down again over the next three months his career will be over.

The signs are extremely encouraging that he is on the way to a complete recovery, however, and he was in a

particularly optimistic mood after bowling 12 overs

without any adverse reaction against Bradford-Leeds Universities at Headingley on Tuesday.

All in all, McGrath has plenty on his plate - but so did the youthful Sellers when he took charge in 1933 and immediately led Yorkshire to the first of six titles under his command.