The county’s managing director of cricket feels he now has a group of bowlers who can dovetail sweetly in all formats.

Yorkshire have recruited the likes of seamers Matt Milnes, Ben Mike and Mickey Edwards in recent times, along with leg-spinner Jafer Chohan, who was snapped up on a one-year rookie contract.

But for the loss through injury of Neil Wagner, the New Zealand pace man, Yorkshire would have had an entire 11 of pace/seam options going into the season.

Darren Gough is happy with the bowlers at his disposal at Yorkshire CCC. Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images.

Matty Fisher and Ben Coad need no introduction, having shown their quality over several years, while Jordan Thompson, aka ‘the man who makes things happen’, has made them happen since his career really began to flourish in 2020.

Add in the blossoming George Hill, Matty Revis, Ben Cliff and Dominic Leech, and Yorkshire have plenty of choices going forward.

Spin-wise, Chohan complements the international class and experience of Dom Bess and, when available, Adil Rashid, with Jack Shutt providing another option.

Gough, whose troops begin their County Championship campaign against Leicestershire at Headingley on April 6, is delighted with the way the bowling is now.

Darren Gough says it's a bonus if Yorkshire see much of their England stars such as Harry Brook, seen here playing a reverse-sweep against Pakistan in the Karachi Test in December. Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images.

“The first thing we wanted to sort out was the bowling,” said the former England fast bowler.

“I’m a bowler, so I always want to sort the bowling out first, but we struggled to bowl teams out twice last year, so that was a problem.

“The good thing now is we’ve got a nice group of bowlers who are different and who play all formats.

“I’m pretty happy with what we’ve done on the bowling front.”

Gough, 52, said a key target was to create competition for places, something an increased head-count is sure to provide.

There could be some difficult selection choices for Ottis Gibson and co, the sort of headache that coaches like.

“The competition is what I wanted and I’ve got faith in every single one of our bowlers to deliver,” said Gough.

“We didn’t have any competition on the bowling front last year, but now there’s a lot who are vying for places.

“I’m not worried about the bowling; we’ve got a whole team of bowlers who could play if required.

“There’s some real quality in the ranks and I’m looking forward to seeing them perform in the weeks and months ahead.”

Bowlers, of course, need good totals to work with and Yorkshire’s batting department is a work in progress.

At full strength its quality speaks for itself, with players such as Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook and Dawid Malan on the books.

Yorkshire look forward to welcoming back Malan, while Bairstow is hoping to play two Championship games in May as he continues his recovery from a broken leg.

But Yorkshire expect to see little of Root and Brook, perhaps the two best batsmen in England today.

“As I’ve always said with England players, if they’re available for one game, or two games, it’s always an advantage,” added Gough.

“I don’t criticise them when they miss; we haven’t paid Bairstow, we haven’t paid Root, we haven’t paid Rashid for 10 years.

“What right do we have over them, do you know what I mean?

“If they’re available for us, it’s a bonus.

“The only thing I’m surprised at - and I’ve said it many times - is I still cannot believe they’ve not centrally contracted ‘Brooky’.

“I think that’s unbelievable.

“He plays in all formats, plays in every game, star player all winter and he hasn’t yet got a central contract.”

That anomaly will doubtless be rectified soon and after getting Yorkshire’s bowling into the condition that he wants, Gough’s next target is to work on the batting.

He explained: “It takes a couple of years to get the players you want in.

“As I say, we’ve done really well on the bowling; let’s see if we can have a similar summer and winter with the bat and get the right players in who are available to play.

“I’ve seen many people comment (on social media) that we need batters. Of course we do. But you can’t get batters when the season’s ended.

“Once June comes up and the players that are going to be out of contract, you can start looking.

“The players who are out of contract at counties, you can start finding who you want to come and play for the club.

“But, until June, we can’t do anything on the batting, so one thing at a time.”

Rain put paid to the opening day of Yorkshire’s behind-closed-doors two-day friendly against Durham at Headingley.

Yorkshire said it was now likely that a 50-over red-ball match will be played on day two.

We've sorted out the bowling, the next job is the batting, says Yorkshire CCC boss Darren Gough