Martyn Moxon, Yorkshire CCC's Barnsley-born director of cricket, hopes that the Tykes' new homegrown coaching set-up can have the same success as Paul Heckingbottom has enjoyed at Oakwell.
Yorkshire begin their County Championship campaign today against Hampshire at Headingley, with Andrew Gale having been promoted from captain to coach and the new skipper being Gary Ballance, who is still on Barnsley CC's books after playing two seasons at Shaw Lane in 2010 and 2011.
Moxon, a former Monk Bretton CC player and lifelong Reds fan, spoke to Heckingbottom while the Royston man was working his way up from part-time youth team coach and studying for a masters degree.
"Paul came to see me and Dizzy (Jason Gillespie, the former Yorkshire coach) and we had a good chat," said Moxon, who has been to several Barnsley matches this season.
"He was working under Lee Johnson at the time and he came across as a bright young coach and he has done extremely well for the club since then. I just hope we can keep him because he will be sought after. We have had an excellent season and I am sure everyone at the club would have been delighted with this position at the start of the season. Paul did well after losing key players in January and I just hope we can keep a settled team together for a whole season next season."
Moxon is also hoping that the success of former Reds player Heckingbottom will be replicated by Dewsbury man Gale, who spent 15 years in the Tykes' first team. He said: "Fans like to see one of their own in charge of the team or playing for the team. It gives them an extra identity. It is highly satisfying for the fans.
"It has been a seamless transition. Andrew Gale has settled in really well and been impressive. Gary Ballance had bedded in really nicely too. He has a lot of experience at domestic and international level and he has a very good manner about him."
Yorkshire missed out on a third successive County Championship crown on the last day of last season in a title showdown at Lord's against Middlesex who won the match to take the title and leave their visitors third. They also reached the semi-final of both the Twenty20 Blast and the 40-over One Day Cup.
Moxon says he wants improvements in the coming campaign, adding: "We will absolutely be going for first place. We were disappointed to miss out on the last day last season but we need to build on that and come back stronger this time. We came third in the Championship and reached two semi-finals so it was a solid, consistent season but we want some silverware this season."
Moxon and Gale will start the season without five of their top fast bowlers as Ryan Sidebottom, Jack Brooks, Liam Plunkett, David Willey and Matthew Fisher are all injured. They are all expected to return before the end of the month while youngsters Ben Coad and Josh Shaw are likely to support veteran Steve Patterson and former England bowler Tim Bresnan today. Moxon said: "It's not ideal at all but the lads who have come in have done well and one of our strengths has been to promote from within and keep that conveyer belt of new players going. Pre-season has gone quite well. Our trip to Dubai went well and so did our warm-up game against Leeds Bradford MCCU."
The ECB have recently revealed plans for a new Twenty20 tournament to rival the Indian Premier League and the Big Bash in Australia, featuring eight regional teams. Moxon said: "The two main aims are to get a new audience watching cricket and two to bring in money for the 18 counties. I think that makes it worth pursuing and hopefully it is a success."
