Martyn Moxon says Yorkshire are targeting silverware

Yorkshire director of cricket Martyn Moxon believes they have the talent to challenge for honours this season.

Relegation to Division Two of the County Championship was averted in the final match last summer, while defeat in the quarter-finals of the One-Day Cup was followed by a group stage exit in the T20 Blast.

But Yorkshire narrowly missed out on a historic hat-trick of County Championship titles in 2016 and Moxon believes the recruitment of overseas pair Kane Williamson and Cheteshwar Pujara, plus Australia quick bowler Billy Stanlake has sent a clear message.

"We've obviously got Pujara at the start of the season and we've got Kane for the second half of the summer, so particularly with Championship cricket in mind we've gone for two of the top [seven] batsmen in Test cricket," Moxon said.

"We have another overseas [player] in Billy Stanlake. He'll be joining us for T20 as well as Kane. So I think we've got three really exciting overseas players this year. That shows our intentions. I'm looking forward to it."

New Zealand skipper Williamson will return for his fourth spell at Headingley, while India batsman Pujara will be back for his second.

That means Yorkshire will have three of the world's top seven ranked Test batsmen, including England skipper Joe Root, in their line-up.

"Hopefully they can both have really good seasons for us and that's going to help us, but we never totally want to rely on overseas players," Moxon said.

"They're an addition to what we've already got so we want our own players to perform, but clearly if they perform that's really going to help."

Root must quickly recharge his batteries after an arduous first England tour as captain, but Moxon dismissed any notion of a hangover.

"Joe will be fine," Moxon said. "He's a strong character and resilient. He'll have learned a hell of a lot this winter through the experience."

England limited-overs all-rounder David Willey has already returned to Yorkshire from New Zealand and will relish the chance to finally make an impact for them in the County Championship.

"It's an old cliche but it will be about trying to win every game," Moxon added. "We want to be competitive in all three formats. That's what we set out every season to be.

"We try and win all three competitions, quite seriously we do. We want to get back playing the four-day cricket we know we're capable of because obviously last year we massively under-performed."