Bradford-born Anthony McGrath could find himself involved in a costly legal wrangle with Yorkshire after rejecting the club's offer to hand him the captaincy and then continuing to request his release from a contract which still has two years to run.

Yorkshire insist they will not willingly let their star batsman go and chief executive, Stewart Regan, says they will seek damages for the value of his contract if another county steps in for his services.

"If it came to a court of law we could not force anyone to play for the club but if he intends to try and break his contract then it will ultimately end up in solicitors' hands," said Regan. "It is a very sad state of affairs but we have to accept that if he doesn't want to play for the club then we cannot put a bat in his hands and make him play."

McGrath, 31, has not yet made himself available to comment on the situation or given the reasons why he wants to leave but several counties are believed to be interested in signing one of domestic cricket's top players and his name has already been strongly linked to Lancashire.

In order to tempt McGrath to stay, Yorkshire offered him the captaincy shortly after Chris Adams had reneged on the post and decided to remain with Sussex.

McGrath was also told he would be given a new three-year contract with enhanced terms and additional responsibilities which would include the overall running of the first team.

"We wanted to give him the chance to put back in place the dressing room atmosphere and spirit which Anthony says was lacking last season," said Regan. "We also offered to let him bring in people to work with him but he still declined.

"Yorkshire are bitterly disappointed that he has turned down this opportunity. He has been a Yorkshire player since his teens and it is sad that he no longer wants to be part of this club.

"The club has taken some knocks in recent weeks but it has been around for 143 years and I am sure it will be here for many more. It is at times like this that we need to be united and I hope members and staff will now get behind the players, in particular the younger lads who will certainly get their chances next season."

Despite this rallying call, the fact remains that Yorkshire are in disarray at the moment with the vacancy for captain still not filled and no announcement yet made on a second overseas player although I understand that an agreement may have been reached to bring an all-rounder to Headingley.

The loss through his retirement from county cricket of Darren Lehmann followed by the departure of Michael Lumb to Hampshire were big enough blows on their own for Yorkshire to absorb without losing McGrath.

He batted so well last season while making 1,2993 Championship runs at an average of 61.57 that Lehmann was prompted to remark that he felt McGrath should have been in England's Ashes squad - and the way the present team have generally performed he is probably right.

McGrath's batting has continued to mature ever since he captained Yorkshire in 2003 before unselfishly giving up the post in order to concentrate more fully on his England commitments.

In all, he has scored 9,209 first class runs for his native county as well as taking 89 wickets and if he had gone on playing for Yorkshire for several more years he would undoubtedly have become one of their heaviest scoring batsmen since the war.