Yorkshire's England Lions contingent will get an early chance to build on their successful tour of South Africa after being included in the Division One champions' squad for their pre-season tour of Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Jonny Bairstow, Jack Brooks, Tim Bresnan, Alex Lees, Adam Lyth, Liam Plunkett and Adil Rashid all featured for England as they drew both four-day games against South Africa A before winning the five-match one-day series 3-1.
The four-day matches brought half-centuries for Bairstow, Rashid - twice - Lyth, Brooks and Plunkett, with the latter also taking 11 wickets across all formats. Brooks added 3-55 in the final one-day game.
Yorkshire will fly out to the United Arab Emirates on March 12 and will play a number of matches - in various formats - with the highlights being the four-day Champion County match against the MCC commencing on Sunday March 22 at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi, and the four-team Emirates Airline T20 tournament in Dubai on March 20.
The Vikings have been drawn against rivals Lancashire Lightning while the other semi-final sees MCC taking on Sussex Sharks.
Youngsters Matthew Fisher and Karl Carver will be touring for the first time with the senior squad and are expected to figure prominently during the 2015 season.
“We are looking forward to getting out to the UAE,” said first-team coach Jason Gillespie.
“After winning the LV= County Championship last season this was one of of the key incentives for the club to train and play at some of the best cricket facilities in the world.
“After an intense winter period, most of it spent in the indoor facilities at Headingley, we are looking forward to developing our skills further in outdoor conditions and working towards the start of the county campaign. With a good spread of cricket across all formats, the tour will be ideal preparation for us.
“The MCC will be strong opposition in the Champion County game. Our hosts have selected a solid squad with international quality throughout, which includes England captain Alastair Cook. Our aim is to play well and win the match. Matches of this nature are what we need going into an intense period of cricket at the start of the English season in April.
“The Emirates Airline T20 competition is also looking very competitive. Having been drawn against Lancashire in the semi-final, we will be in for a real battle. The shorter format is an area of the game we will have an intense focus on. We will be making a concerted effort to improve in 2015 and this tournament will give us a perfect platform to showcase and hone in on our development.”
Meanwhile, six players - Elliot Callis, Ryan Gibson, Daniel Hodgson, Joshua Shaw, Jonathan Tattersall and James Wainman - will attend a six-day training camp at the Desert Springs Resort in Alicante, Spain commencing March 22. They will continue to work on their skills under the guidance of coaching consultant Anthony McGrath.
Joining them will be Sam Hinchliffe, the Club’s Head of Customer Operations, who is also developing his coaching credentials and recently qualified as an ECB Level Three coach.
The Club would like to thank the Yorkshire CCC Southern Group and the Yorkshire CCC Players’ Association for their help in funding the training camp.
Yorkshire CCC squad for the Champion County match and Emirates Airlines T20 tournament: Andrew Gale (capt), Moin Ashraf, Jonny Bairstow, Jack Brooks, Tim Bresnan, Karl Carver, Ben Coad, Matthew Fisher, Andrew Hodd, Jack Leaning, Alex Lees, Adam Lyth, Steven Patterson, Liam Plunkett, Richard Pyrah, Adil Rashid, Will Rhodes, Ryan Sidebottom.
Yorkshire's pre-season tour as follows
- Mon March 16-Tue March 17: Yorkshire XI v Yorkshire XI (two-day practice match)
- Thu March 19: Yorkshire Vikings v Middlesex (T20)
- Fri March 20: Emirates Airline T20 Tournament - Yorkshire Vikings v Lancashire Lightning, MCC v Sussex Sharks (final to follow)
- Sun March 22-Wed March 25: Champion County Match - MCC v Yorkshire