Jack Brooks impressed by Yorkshire's pre-season focus

And the veteran wicket-taker believes he and his team-mates are in better shape than they have ever been at this stage of the winter programme, all of which augurs well for the 2018 campaign.

“Everyone has come back from their holidays looking really fit,” said Brooks, who himself feels a lot sharper than he did ahead of an injury-plagued summer.

“I’ve been around a few times when people have probably enjoyed their time off a bit more, that’s not to say we haven’t enjoyed our time off this time, but it looks like they’ve looked after themselves.

“We’ve come back and we’re focused, and after the season we’ve had, we probably do need that little bit more focus. So to see that in people’s eyes already, pre-Christmas, bodes well.”

And Brooks echoes the belief of county first-team coach Andrew Gale that Yorkshire need to set the record straight next year after flirting with ‘disaster’ in 2017.

“This summer was always going to be huge to see how it went, we averted disaster, we didn’t get relegated which would have been a disaster,” he added.

“To finish fourth is not the worst thing in the world but obviously we want to be winning trophies. Last year was a blip – but we still managed to finish fourth. A lot of counties would have taken that, but not Yorkshire.

“Because we’d been challenging the previous years times, it was a bit of a shock to the system. So we’ve got the bit between our teeth – I know I certainly have.

“The future remains bright for Yorkshire cricket. We’ve got the potential to challenge next year.”