The 2025 English county cricket season begins on 4 April when 18 counties will play across Divisions One and Two of the Rothesay County Championship.
Yorkshire will be one of the 10 teams competing in the top flight after being promoted alongside Sussex last season.
The White Rose have a squad stacked with international talent and will hope to return to the glory days of being county champions.
You can read all our Division Two previews here.
2024 season
Last year was a successful one for Yorkshire as they returned to Division One at the second time of asking after being relegated in 2022.
Ottis Gibson led the county to second place behind Sussex as they won five of their 14 games, drawing seven and losing two, to finish 21 points ahead of Middlesex.
Their white-ball performances were disappointing, especially in the Vitality Blast where they would have expected to reach the quarter-finals.
Six wins out of 14 left them in seventh place in the North Group, two points behind fourth-placed Durham.
In the Metro Bank One Day Cup, they missed out on qualification for the knockout rounds by three points after winning four and losing four of their eight games.
37-year-old opening batter Adam Lyth thrived in Division Two and finished as the second-highest run-scorer in the competition. His 1,215 runs at an average of 57.85 were only short of Glamorgan’s Colin Ingram, who scored 1,351.
Fast bowler Ben Coad was the leading wicket-taker in the division with 56 at an average of 15.80. No one in the top 40 wicket-takers had an economy less than his 2.64 and he had best figures of 6/30 against Derbyshire.
Young batter Will Luxton was the county’s leading 50-over run-scorer with 247 at 35.28, including his maiden professional hundred of 105* against Warwickshire.
Coad was also the leading Yorkshire bowler in the One Day Cup with 12 wickets at 14.50.
Former world number one T20I batter Dawid Malan led the way for the county in the Blast as his 420 runs were the eighth-most in the competition. The 37-year-old averaged 42 and scored three half-centuries in 12 games.
All-rounder Jordan Thompson had a good tournament, taking 20 wickets at 19.65 and finishing in the top ten wicket-takers list.
Squad
Yorkshire have had a busy winter with coaching changes and various player moves.
Head coach Ottis Gibson announced his end-of-season departure in August, before the county’s promotion.
The former West Indian fast bowler took over in 2021 amidst the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal and oversaw relegation to Division Two, the deduction of 48 points and finally promotion in his final season.
He has been replaced by former captain Anthony McGrath, who has left his role as Director of Cricket at Essex to sign a five-year deal.
The all-rounder played 601 times for the White Rose in a 17-year career, in which he scored over 23,000 runs and played 18 times for England.
He has been joined on the coaching staff by former Northamptonshire head coach John Sadler, who will be the new batting coach, and former Essex bowling coach Mick Lewis, who will keep the same role.
Former all-rounder Gavin Hamilton has also returned as general manager.
The county have yet to name their captain for the upcoming season after Shan Masood’s move to Leicestershire.
Wicketkeeper Jonathan Tattersall captained the side in the Pakistan batter’s absence so will be the likely successor.
Alongside Masood, last year’s two other overseas players Donovan Ferreira and Vishwa Fernando have not signed new deals with the county.
They have been replaced by four fast bowlers from Australia and New Zealand.
Kiwi Ben Sears has been signed for the first-class season, starting with the second game of the season against Worcestershire, and will be joined by Aussie Jordan Buckingham for four Championship games in May.
Fellow Australian Will Sutherland will play in the T20 Blast group stage and two first-class games in June against Nottinghamshire and Essex.
Lastly, New Zealand’s Will O’Rourke, who has had a breakout year in international cricket, will be available for the first eight matches in the Blast.
Other incomings to the county’s first team are Northamptonshire bowler Jack White and youngsters Alex Wade and Jawad Akhtar.
White took 114 first-class wickets in 35 matches for Northants in eight seasons, as well as 35 white-ball wickets. He has signed a two-year deal to play at Headingley.
Wade and Akhtar have both signed two-year professional rookie contracts.
Three fast bowlers have left the county – Matthew Fisher, Dom Leech and Mickey Edwards.
Fisher took more than 150 wickets for the county since making his debut aged 15 in 2013 but has joined Surrey, who have won Division One for the past three seasons.
24-year-old Leech only played 23 times across all formats, taking 29 wickets, and has moved to Northamptonshire until the end of the 2027 season.
Australian-born Edwards joined in 2023 on a British passport but he struggled with a recurring foot injury and retired in October, aged 30.
Six Yorkshire players will be taking part in The Hundred this summer: Harry Brook, Adil Rashid, Dawid Malan (all Northern Superchargers), Jordan Thompson (Southern Brave), Joe Root (Trent Rockets) and Jonny Bairstow (Welsh Fire).
Full squad (as of 25/03/25):
Batters – Jawad Akhtar, Finlay Bean, Harry Brook, Noah Kelly, Will Luxton, Adam Lyth, Joe Root, James Wharton
All-rounders – George Hill, Matthew Revis, Will Sutherland (O), Jordan Thompson, Yash Vagadia
Wicketkeepers – Jonny Bairstow, Harry Duke, Jonathan Tattersall
Fast bowlers – Jordan Buckingham, Ben Cliff, Ben Coad, Matt Milnes, Will O’Rourke, Ben Sears, Alex Wade, Jack White
Spinners – Dom Bess, Jafer Chohan, Dan Moriarty, Adil Rashid
Overseas Players
All four of Yorkshire’s overseas signings bowl very fast and should thrive on traditional English wickets.
New Zealand’s Ben Sears has made 22 international appearances across all formats with the majority coming in T20Is, where he has taken 23 wickets.
In 21 first-class matches, the 27-year-old has 63 wickets and averages less than 30.
Jordan Buckingham has taken 90 wickets at 27 since his first-class debut in 2022.
He previously had a county spell with Northamptonshire in 2023 but only took three wickets in as many games.
However, he has played for Australia A and took 6/58 on his debut against New Zealand.
Fellow Aussie Will Sutherland is an all-rounder who has played twice for Australia in ODIs, taking two wickets at 16.50.
The 6ft 5in bowler has taken 36 T20 wickets at 37.97 and scored two half-centuries.
He is likely to bat in the middle-lower order and make an impact at the tail end of Yorkshire’s innings.
The last overseas is perhaps the most exciting of all – Kiwi Will O’Rourke.
The 23-year-old has 61 wickets in just 28 internationals since his debut for the Black Caps at the end of 2023 and finished as a runner-up in the recent Champions Trophy.
In 38 career T20 matches, he has taken 37 wickets at 26.05 and bowled with an economy of just 7.80.
All four bowlers will be part of a strong bowling attack and will make the departure of Matt Fisher less important.
Key Player
Yorkshire will have England batters Joe Root and Harry Brook available for parts of the season when they do not have international fixtures but their former teammate Jonny Bairstow could be the county’s most important player in 2025.
The 35-year-old wicketkeeper has been dropped by the national team in all formats and is set to take part in the full first-class and T20 campaigns.
In five Division Two matches last year, Bairstow scored 321 runs at 45.85 and hit 160 against Middlesex.
He has title-winning experience after being involved in the county’s championship successes in 2014 and 2015 and has scored 8,052 first-class runs at 49.40 for the county.
With him also expected to be available for the full T20 Blast campaign, he will be part of a very strong top order which could include Lyth, Malan, Root and Brook at one point.
Bairstow will be most important when Yorkshire’s first-class matches clash with England’s Test series against India.
Apart from Lyth and Tattersall, the county’s batting line-up will likely contain youngsters Finlay Bean, James Wharton and George Hill, who have only played 97 first-class matches between them.
Despite all three being talented and having already impressed at senior level, Bairstow’s experience and class will play a big role as Yorkshire adjust to the top division of the county game.
One to look out for
Yorkshire have several young talents in their squad who will all be given chances to impress during the season and especially in the One Day Cup.
22-year-old fast bowler Ben Cliff had a breakout season in the T20 Blast last year and will be hoping to make an impression with the red ball.
In just five T20 matches, he took eight wickets at 18.62 and stood out with 4/31 in a 28-run defeat to Nottinghamshire.
In two first-class matches, he has picked up three wickets and could feature later in the season as a first-change option behind Ben Coad and Ben Sears.
If he leans on the experience of Coad in particular then he may follow in his path and become the county’s leading bowler in five to 10 years.
Prediction
On their return to Division One, Yorkshire fans should not expect to rival Surrey for the title but should be confident of a respectable finish.
The White Rose will be stacked with overseas and English talents and they should be confident of a mid-table position.
In the One Day Cup, they will resort to their young players as usual but with the experience of Lyth, Tattersall, Coad and Dom Bess they can reach the quarter-finals.
After a disappointing T20 campaign last year, they will want to make amends and the arrival of O’Rourke will vastly improve their bowling attack.
Bairstow’s extra availability will make a big difference at the top of the order and cameos from Root and Brook should see them qualify for the knockout rounds.
Although the two batters would be unlikely to play on Finals Day, they could add the quality needed to take them there.
Yorkshire’s county season gets underway on Friday 4 April when they will face Hampshire at the Utilita Bowl in Southampton.