New captain must prove the pundits wrong as Yorkshire prepare for the new season

A young side led by new captain Andrew Gale are widely tipped for a disappointing year, with most bookmakers having already written off their chances.

William Hill make Yorkshire 3-1 favourites to finish bottom of the County Championship First Division, the 13th most likely county to win the Twenty20 Cup and the 11th most likely to win the new ECB 40 League.

Ladbrokes and Corals are similarly sceptical, making Yorkshire joint-favourites to finish bottom of the Championship First Division, along with Essex, and adopting a similarly gloomy view of their one-day chances.

The reason for their pessimism is palpably clear:

* Yorkshire have failed to win the County Championship since 2001 and have won it only once in 42 years.

* They have not won a domestic competition since 2002, when they captured the now obsolete Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy on a glorious day at Lord's.

* Since gaining Championship promotion in 2005, Yorkshire have endured four successive fights against relegation, finishing sixth, sixth, seventh and seventh in a First Division comprising nine teams.

* During that period, they have failed to progress beyond the quarter-finals of a one-day tournament and are one of only four counties – Derbyshire, Hampshire and Worcestershire being the others – never to have reached a Twenty20 finals day.

If you are backing Yorkshire this summer, the message from the bookies could not be more clear: you are backing the wrong horse. But are you?

Writing as one who has covered Yorkshire CCC for the past six seasons, I would not incline to so negative a view.

I am not saying Yorkshire are going to win the Championship – although the law of averages dictates they will win it again at some point, just as they will win another one-day competition at some point.

But I do not expect them to finish bottom of the pile either and have a sneaking suspicion they might do better than some people think.

I would certainly expect them to be more competitive in one-day cricket, with the addition of South African batsman Herschelle Gibbs raising the possibility of the club reaching that first elusive finals day.

A Gibbs/Gale combination at the top of the order could produce more fireworks than Sydney Harbour on New Year's Eve and would give Yorkshire's bowlers plenty to work with.

The very fact Yorkshire are not expected to make an impression could well work in their favour.

To some extent, Gale and his men have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

If Yorkshire do go down in the Championship, people will say it was always on the cards given the inexperienced nature of their squad and that it will not do them any harm to spend some time in Division Two.

But if Yorkshire perform better than expected – say a top-four Championship finish and some good one-day showings – then the club will justifiably claim to have exceeded expectations.

Gale, indeed, will be a pivotal figure.

As Yorkshire's youngest captain since Brian Sellers in 1933, the 26-year-old will have a lot on his plate – and possibly too many consultants in his ear following the appointment of former England captain Michael Vaughan in an advisory capacity.

But Gale has the respect of the Yorkshire team – most of whom he has grown up with – and possesses the personal attributes to do the job.

His biggest challenge will be to make sure his own game continues to develop.

Gale has played only 47 first-class matches, which have brought him 2,340 runs at 32.50. To put that into perspective, Jonathan Bairstow (first-class average 45.53) and Adam Lyth (30.53) are not guaranteed their places, highlighting how little there is to choose between the squad.

As ever, much will depend on Jacques Rudolph and Anthony McGrath in the batting department.

This could be Rudolph's last season with the club following changes to the Kolpak laws, while McGrath has something to prove following another disappointing campaign last year when he was weighed down by the stresses of the captaincy.

Yorkshire require another good summer from Joe Sayers at the top of the order, while it will be fascinating to see how they juggle the respective batting/wicketkeeping talents of Bairstow and Gerard Brophy; do they pick one, or find a place for both?

On paper, Yorkshire's biggest problem lies in their seam bowling department, which has lost Matthew Hoggard and Deon Kruis from last year and which will be without Tim Bresnan and Ajmal Shahzad at times due to international commitments.

With uncertainty having surrounded their overseas situation, it has been difficult for Gale and director of professional cricket Martyn Moxon to plan ahead, with the Ryan Harris/Darryl Tuffey/Tino Best saga having caused them plenty of headaches.

Perhaps Yorkshire's greatest strength – particularly if their efforts to inject more life into the pitches at Headingley Carnegie are successful – is their spin bowling department, which possesses three of the best young spinners around in Adil Rashid, David Wainwright and Azeem Rafiq.

Their presence alone makes it highly improbable Yorkshire will finish bottom of the Championship for the simple reason they can each win games in their own right.

Rashid and Wainwright are proven performers, while Rafiq did well on the pre-season tour of Barbados and is improving all the time.

Having dropped down the England pecking order, Rashid should be available for most of the summer, and he could prove to be Yorkshire's trump card – particularly given dry pitches and good weather.

Rashid will also be desperate to show that England were wrong to leave him at home for the tour of Bangladesh and will need no extra incentive to turn on the style.

Although popular wisdom dictates the bookmakers are always right, Yorkshire and their new captain will be determined to prove them wrong.

It promises to be a challenging and unpredictable year and, with Gale at the helm, a fascinating one.