Adil Rashid has reiterated his desire to stay at Yorkshire “for a long time” ahead of tomorrow’s Yorkshire Bank 40 opener against Glamorgan at Colwyn Bay.

The leg-spinning all-rounder from Bradford, 25, has been given a new lease of life at Headingley having made the most of Azeem Rafiq’s knee injury to return some encouraging performances in back-to-back Championship wins, especially with the bat.

An interview published last month including quotes suggesting he was unhappy at Headingley and criticisms of captain Andrew Gale is now firmly behind him.

Rashid is in line to play in tomorrow’s Group C clash in North Wales, a competition which the newly named Vikings have struggled in since reaching the semi-finals in 2010.

“It hasn’t distracted me at all,” said Rashid of the aforementioned interview. “My focus has always been on cricket and my performances on the pitch and in the nets.

“I’ve been here since I was 18 in professional terms and I love playing with my team-mates and working with the coaches. My plan is to stay here for a long time.

“Our Twenty20 improved last year because we had a simple game-plan. But our Pro40 wasn’t quite there. Hopefully this season we can go a lot further in one-day cricket as well. I think we’ve got the team to go to the semi-finals and the final.”

Yorkshire lost seven and won only four of their 12 40-over matches last season, failing to get out of their group.

The format of the competition has not changed. The top team in each of the three seven-team groups automatically qualifies for the last four, while the best second-placed finisher also advances. The final is at Lord’s on September 21.

Yorkshire’s group also includes Gloucestershire, Leicestershire, Middlesex, Somerset and the Unicorns. Each team plays each other twice.

The county have confirmed that Ryan Sidebottom will be rested for the majority, if not all, of the competition, but they are hopeful of being able to confirm England trio Jonny Bairstow, Tim Bresnan and Joe Root in their squad today.

Captain Gale added: “People talk about Twenty20 finals a bit more but I remember watching Yorkshire in the C&G final (2002). I was in the stand as a young Academy player thinking ‘I want a piece of this’. For me, the Lord’s final is still the pinnacle of county cricket.”