Close was at the helm when Yorkshire won the Gillette Cup in 1965 – the competition now called the Friends Provident Trophy.

And as Gough's men geared up for today's FPT semi-final against Essex at Chelmsford, Close tipped them to reach the final at Lord's on August 16 as Yorkshire chase their first major silverware since 2002.

"I certainly think Darren Gough can lead his men to Lord's," said Close, the current Yorkshire president.

"It'll be a tough job against Essex, but if the team play to their capabilities I'm sure they can get through and emulate what we achieved in 1965.

"The lads have done well this season and I just hope they can keep it going.

"All we can hope is that they do their best and put their best foot forward; it would be a tremendous effort if they could go all the way.

"The County Championship is the No 1 priority in my book, but Yorkshire cricket needs to get back to winning ways no matter what the tournament.

"Somewhere along the line we've lost our way over the years, but any type of success breeds confidence and, hopefully, the confidence gained from doing well in one-day cricket will have a knock-on effect in the Championship."

Close, 77, played an important role in Yorkshire's Gillette Cup victory 43 years ago, scoring 79 as they totalled 317-4 from their 60 overs against Surrey after being sent into bat.

It was the match in which he famously chivvied up Geoffrey Boycott, who smashed a one-day career-best 146 and with whom he shared a second-wicket partnership of 192.

"I was batting at No 3 and when I got to the wicket I made sure I geed Geoff up a bit!" laughed Close.

"I daren't tell you exactly what I said to him, but it was basically along the lines of, 'Look, I don't care where you hit the ball, just so long as you bloody well hit it'. Fair play to the lad, he started smashing it around and played the innings of his life."

In reply, Surrey were never in the hunt and were dismissed for 142, Raymond Illingworth taking 5-29 and Fred Trueman 3-31 as Yorkshire won by 175 runs.

Close said Yorkshire's priority in the Sixties was always the Championship.

"When that Gillette Cup business first started we were winning Championships and I don't think we were particularly good at limited-overs cricket in all honesty," he added.

"Part of the reason for that is because one-day cricket requires a lot of negative thinking and negative bowling.

"The whole point is that if you want to win in the Championship and win in first-class cricket, you've got to bowl people out, which is not always the case in the one-day game.

"We had to modify our type of bowling because if you're going to bowl people out you need to bowl a pretty good length and do things with the ball, but in one-day cricket that gives away runs more often than not.

"But it was a good win in '65 and a great day for the club. It's always nice to get your hands on some silverware."

Close said he was enjoying his role as president after succeeding Bob Appleyard.

"It's been really good so far," he said. "I'm seeing a fair bit of cricket and I turn up when I can.

"The lads are doing well and we're still in every competition at the moment, touch wood. In one-day cricket you always need a bit of luck, so I wish the lads all the best and hope that the luck is with them at Chelmsford."

Pakistan pace bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan returns to the Yorkshire line-up after six weeks out with a hamstring injury.

Rana has played three second team games in quick succession to boost his fitness for today's encounter, which starts at 12.05pm.

The winners will face Kent, who defeated Durham by 83 runs in the first semi-final at The Riverside yesterday.

Martin van Jaarsveld's third century of the week and another from Joe Denly helped Kent to 301-4 before they dismissed the holders for 218.

Gough seeks fairytale finale: Page 28.

Essex (from): Gallian, Cook, Pettini (capt), Bopara, Flower, Foster, ten Doeschate, Middlebrook, Napier, Masters, Kaneria, Wright, Chambers, Chopra.

Yorkshire (from): Gale, Brophy, McGrath, Rudolph, Lyth, Rashid, Bresnan, Pyrah, Rana Naved, Gough (capt), Hoggard, Taylor, Wainwright.