Yorkshire "ready now" says Ottis Gibson ahead of new County Championship term

The county have played eight days of cricket including matches against Gloucestershire and Durham and a 10-day training camp in Dubai over the winter

Yorkshire coach Ottis Gibson says that his side has "ticked a lot of boxes" during their pre-season programme.

The county have played friendly matches against Gloucestershire and Durham and enjoyed a 10-day training camp in Dubai over the winter.

"I'm happy with where we are right now," Gibson told Yorkshire's official website. "We have ticked a lot of boxes. It's just a bit of a shame that we have to sit and wait for one more week before our first game because we feel like we're ready now."

Both Harry Brook and Will Fraine scored centuries against Leeds/Bradford Universities over the weekend as Yorkshire racked up 402 for 7 declared.

"As we drive away from here, there will be a lot of guys who've had their confidence increased," said Gibson.

^{Ottis Gibson is readying Yorkshire for the new season}

"Some guys won't have performed as well as they'd have liked either. But our job over the next few days is to build their confidence up."

The signs are also good for seamer Ben Coad, who has been struggling with a groin strain. He managed to bowl six over at the universities side on Monday and looks to be a selection possibility for Yorkshire's first match of the season against Gloucestershire next week

Matt Fisher has also re-joined the squad fresh from England duty as the team look to bolster their bowling attack ahead of the start of the season.

Gibson also told the website he is looking ahead to the start of the white-ball season.

He said: "We've said already that we'd love to be in the mix for Finals Day. So we need to make sure we know what we need to do to get there."

"A lot of the stuff we'll do around that will allow the guys to express themselves and have some fun with it."

Meanwhile, the club has received a boost with news of a new major sponsor.

Clean Slate - an Indian streaming platform - comes onboard as named sponsor of the Headingley pavilion. Their branding will feature on Yorkshire and Northern Diamonds shirts in 2022.

Yorkshire lost a lot of commercial partners last year over the county's handling of their handling of the Azeem Rafiq case.