The county club held a press conference in the Long Room at Headingley Carnegie this lunchtime "to make an important announcement about the 2009 YCCC squad".

McGrath had already exclusively revealed in the Yorkshire Post that he would relish a second crack at the captaincy and the only other possible contender, South African batsman Jacques Rudolph, accepted the all-rounder would get the nod.

Former England player McGrath, 32, led the county in 2003 and is excited about taking the reins from his great friend and former England pace bowler Darren Gough, who retired at the end of the season.

He believes he is far more experienced to cope with the rigours of the job after his previous stint ended with Yorkshire finishing fourth in Division Two of the County Championship and being relegated from the National League.

McGrath, vice-captain for the past two summers, had been backed for the job by Gough, who said: "Anthony has always been a team man, a team player, and he is a strong character. You need a strong character to be captain of Yorkshire."

Yorkshire will face Surrey, Durham, Gloucestershire and Sussex in the group stage of next year's Friends Provident Trophy competition.

The England and Wales Cricket Board have decided to de-regionalise the round-robin stage, in which all sides face each other home and away, and hold an open draw. The 18 first-class counties are joined by Scotland and Ireland in four groups of five with the top two from each progressing to the quarter-finals.

The final will be played at Lord's on July 29 with the rest of the fixtures to be announced in due course.

Friend Provident Trophy

Draw - Group A: Ireland, Hampshire, Nottinghamshire, Worcestershire, Leicestershire.

Group B: Scotland, Warwickshire, Kent, Somerset, Middlesex.

Group C: Surrey, Durham, Gloucestershire, Yorkshire, Sussex.

Group D: Essex, Glamorgan, Lancashire, Derbyshire, Northamptonshire.