No reason why Yorkshire CCC cannot end 22 years of one-day hurt - Chris Waters

Not since 2002, when they beat Somerset in the old Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy, have Yorkshire tasted white-ball success - an achievement so ancient that the ball, in fact, was red back then and the players wore whites in one-day cricket.

Twenty-two years is a lot of hurt, to adapt the song, with “dreaming” just about the only thing that Yorkshire supporters have been able to do in the interim.

Hopes that “cricket’s coming home” - home to Headingley, that is - have been habitually dashed, with only a few semi-final appearances to show for the club’s systematically frustrated efforts.

Could this be the year when the narrative changes? Time will tell.

On the evidence of Yorkshire’s opening match in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup, however, the modern equivalent of the C&G Trophy, there is no reason why not, with Surrey well-beaten at The Oval on Thursday when the visitors triumphed by 25 runs.

Granted, Surrey were missing 15 men due to The Hundred/international cricket, pretty much an entire first-team squad back in the day, with Yorkshire themselves missing seven - although that was really six given that sightings of Adil Rashid in a Yorkshire shirt are rarer than drinking fountains in the Sahara desert (there have been four different UK Prime Ministers since Rashid last played for the club).

But Surrey still had the likes of Ben Foakes, Rory Burns and Conor McKerr, the latter on loan at Yorkshire earlier this season, and they had conditions in their favour, inserting the visitors when the rain did its worst, interrupting momentum and muddying the picture of what was a good score.

Surrey had the advantage, then, of batting second, knowing what they had to do to keep up with the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern adjusted target, so it was no mean feat by Yorkshire.

Indeed, the apparently small margin of victory belied the relatively comfortable nature of it, one led by a fine innings of 83 from Will Luxton, an excellent all-round performance from George Hill (51 and 3-41) and a sparkling cameo from Matty Revis (36 not out from 15 balls, including four sixes in the final over, effectively the difference in terms of the margin of victory).

Throw in several other useful contributions, and it was a confidence-boosting start, with the second of eight group games to come against Nottinghamshire at Sookholme on Sunday.

What I like about Yorkshire, in this format especially, is the sense of a young side that has grown up together and is playing for each other. Of the team that took to the field at the Oval, a strong one on paper, only Shan Masood, Dom Bess and Dan Moriarty had not come up through the Yorkshire system, with many having played together in the various age groups.

The bond inherent - a fellowship, it should be said, that is only increased by the presence of Masood, Bess and Moriarty - really comes across on the field and suggests a strong spirit.

Although such spirit cannot guarantee success, it is often the difference in moments of fine margins, the all-important ingredient that can pull a team through.

Never was that spirit more evident at the Oval than in terms of Yorkshire’s fielding. Led by James Wharton, who took three catches (one quite sensational), Yorkshire squeezed Surrey with their fielding as well as their bowling. It is often said that a side’s fielding, its body language in the battle, is a good indicator of where it is at collectively. In that respect, the signs for Yorkshire are positive.

Of course, there are always road bumps with young players, but the ride can be thrilling. One challenge on the horizon is the departure next month of Masood for Pakistan’s Test series against Bangladesh, which will leave Yorkshire needing a new captain and a batting replacement, a challenge that would no doubt suit Jonny Tattersall, say.

However, the nucleus is strong and, given good luck with injuries and a fair wind, Masood will be monitoring from afar a side that is functioning nicely in his absence. Excitement, indeed, is the prevailing emotion in terms of what Yorkshire could go on to achieve in the coming weeks.

The challenge now is to live up to the standard set on Thursday. Although Yorkshire have a number of youngsters, several have been around for long enough now to know that the time has come to deliver.

The Hundred does make a mockery of this competition to a large extent (but then all county cricket is increasingly a lottery), and there are a lot of good young players across the circuit, not just at Yorkshire.

But Yorkshire have the tools to go deep in the tournament (one that is maybe more of a level playing field than the others) and to finally end the club’s one-day silverware drought, that C&G Trophy of 2002 still gleaming - but only just.