The Tykes have the talent to contend in 2011, provided England don't come calling for too many of their players.
Sidebottom returns home to give Tykes another bowling option
Andrew Gale leads a squad packed full of talent, but will England come calling too often for them to have hopes of picking up silverware?
Last season
The White Rose bloomed in 2010, but ultimately fell just short of silverware in both the LV County Championship and the Clydesdale Bank 40.
New skipper Andrew Gale took to the role like a duck to water, leading a team of bright young things to a third-placed finish in four-day cricket. Indeed, they were in the hunt for the title right through to the final round of fixtures.
The base for their success was top-order runs; opener Adam Lyth was the fastest batsmen to reach 1,000 in the summer while Jacques Rudolph and Anthony McGrath, relieved of the added burden of captaincy, also reached four figures.
As for the bowling, Adil Rashid led the way with 57 first-class scalps as England internationals Ajmal Shahzad, who continues to be plagued by injury problems, and Tim Bresnan were in and out of the side.
In one-day cricket the Tykes endured a mixed year. Their Twenty20 performances continued to be poor but in the 40-over competition they prospered.
They topped Group B with 10 wins from 12 outings but then failed to make the most of the home advantage in the semi-finals, losing to eventual champions Warwickshire at Scarborough.
Ins and outs
It has been a mixed winter for supporters of the county - on one hand they have seen a former star return 'home', but on the other they have lost a Kolpak recruit who became an honorary Yorkshireman.
Rudolph signed off from the county with another stellar campaign in 2010; he scored over 1,000 first-class runs for the fourth straight season and was also a key part of the one-day side at the top of the order.
However, the South African requested to be released from the final year of his contract to return home for family reasons. He will be sorely missed.
The signing of Ryan Sidebottom did at least give Tykes fans something to look forward to though. The left-arm seamer comes back to Headingley having helped Nottinghamshire lift the county title - he will be hoping to do the same again in '11.
Now 32, Sidebottom - who signed a three-year deal - will be expected to lead the seam attack in the likely continued absences of Shahzad and Bresnan.
For the second straight off-season Yorkshire have been unable to find an overseas player (both Ryan Harris and Darryl Tuffey failed to turn up in 2010) - it seems quite possible they won't bother to fill the void at all this year.
Summer forecast
There's a bright outlook in Leeds - but it would not take too much for optimism in spring to turn into disappointment in autumn.
If they are to challenge in Division One they need Sidebottom to stay fit and England to ignore Bresnan, Shahzad and also all-rounder Rashid, who is clearly still in the frame having been given a late call-up to the World Cup.
Still, Yorkshire have never failed to bring youngsters through; Lyth and wicketkeeper Jonathan Bairstow were both outstanding in their first full seasons in the first team.
Others like Azeem Rafiq and Oliver Hannon-Dalby might expect to come through this time around, and the return to fitness of stoic left-hander Joe Sayers could help fill the sizeable void left by Rudolph's departure.
One to watch... Jonathan Bairstow
A good gloveman who combines his skills behind the stumps with a pugnacious batting style that sees attack as the best form of defence, it's fair to say that Bairstow is a chip off the old block (even down to the red hair).
The 21-year-old averaged over 40 in first-class cricket last year and his performances didn't go unnoticed at the highest level; he spent time in Australia with England's development squad during the Ashes and then played for the Lions in the Caribbean.
