Youngsters prove the pundits are not always in the know

While most people were writing off Yorkshire at the start of the year, I predicted they would do much better than expected.

Of course, the law of averages dictates that your correspondent would get something right before hell froze over, but I make no claim on a personal level.

For this was never a team of rank no-hopers, a team tipped by many to be relegated in the County Championship and to make little headway in one-day cricket.

It was a side with the ability to flourish and thrive – albeit one I never quite thought would almost win the Championship and reach the semi-finals of the Clydesdale Bank 40 League.

In fairness, the doom-mongers had reason to be pessimistic.

Yorkshire had spent the previous four seasons battling Championship relegation.

They had lost half their seam attack in Matthew Hoggard and Deon Kruis: the former after failing to agree a new deal, the latter to retirement.

They had a new captain in Andrew Gale, who smacked of being the only available candidate following Anthony McGrath's decision to stand down. And they were chronically short of experience, with McGrath and Gerard Brophy the only thirty-somethings in the squad.

But there were also reasons for genuine optimism.

Leg-spinner Adil Rashid was likely to be available for the entire season after England made clear they wanted him to gain more county experience.

Lo and behold, although he was inconsistent at times and is still learning his trade, Rashid was Yorkshire's leading Championship wicket-taker with 57 at 31.29; no spinner in the country captured more.

The departure of Hoggard and Michael Vaughan, who retired midway through the 2009 summer, also struck me as a significant development.

Although both offered outstanding service over the years, their presence in the side had started to block the progress of up-and-coming youngsters.

In Vaughan's case, it meant Yorkshire no longer had to find a spot for someone whose overwhelming concern was to regain his England place, who no longer had the appetite for the county treadmill. Lo and behold, Steve Patterson stepped into Hoggard's shoes to take 45 wickets at 26.68, responding to greater opportunity and responsibility, while Adam Lyth – restricted to just four Championship games in 2009 as Vaughan scratched around for form – was leading run-scorer with 1,509.

Throw in the rise of Oliver Hannon-Dalby, a 21-year-old who claimed 34 first-class wickets in his first full season and 18-year-old Moin Ashraf, who played an important role in the last two matches, and it showed what can happen when youth is given a chance.

It also proved Yorkshire have pace bowling depth beyond England stars Tim Bresnan and Ajmal Shahzad.

Right from pre-season, there was a clear sense of a young side bonding together under Gale. This was not a squad going to be sidetracked by international distractions but one that exuded a solitary purpose – to win for Yorkshire.

Gale, in fact, took the reins with a simple message.

He promised his players would fight tooth-and-nail for each other and spoke of how they had grown up together. That familiarity and camaraderie was highly significant.

Not only did Gale prove himself an inspired leader and one of the country's most improved batsmen, he fostered a great team spirit.

Older Yorkshire players will tell you that is exactly what happened when Ronnie Burnet took charge of a young Yorkshire team in the late 1950s – the prelude to seven Championship titles in a 10-year period.

Yorkshire, in fact, had two great advantages going into last season. First, they had absolutely nothing to lose and were able to play with the freedom of knowing that if they had a poor summer, people would say it was only to be expected. Second, young players, by their very nature, often play without fear.

Unencumbered by baggage, the thought of failure does not occur to them when things are going well.

Once Yorkshire had won three of their first five Championship games, they were utterly fearless and believed they could win from any position. Occasionally that backfired – most notably against Somerset at Taunton.

Set a generous 362 to win from 68 overs, Somerset cruised home by six wickets with 32 balls to spare – and there would have been no greater irony had that result proved the difference between Somerset and Yorkshire winning the title, as so nearly happened.

Yet that declaration said everything about Yorkshire's positive approach.

They were prepared to lose to win, to be left with egg on their faces in an effort to succeed and put points on the board.

At times, the young players were understandably inconsistent.

A dramatic batting collapse on the last day of the season, when Yorkshire lost nine wickets in nine overs against Kent, effectively cost Yorkshire the title.

But that was the exception rather than the norm, a misleading memory to take into the winter.

For last season showed the ongoing success of Yorkshire's youth policy and the work that is going on behind the scenes.

With the exception of Jacques Rudolph and Brophy, the side that played against Kent all came up through the Yorkshire system.

Nine Yorkshiremen on the field and only one of them – McGrath – aged over 26.

Now that is a record of which the club can be rightly proud.