New England captain Michael Vaughan has already had to learn the hard way that patience is a virtue and that one has to take the rough with the smooth.

One thing he must do, however deep in the abyss he finds himself looking into, is keep the smile on his face and not let the gloom show through as it did so often with Nasser Hussain.

Ever since Vaughan signed up as a 16-year-old to join the newly-formed Yorkshire Academy at Bradford Park Avenue - the first non-Yorkshireman in modern times to get a White Rose contract - the sunny side of his nature has appealed to the fans.

But he is also inwardly tough and one of the main tasks he should set himself now is to stop the nonsense introduced by Hussain and Duncan Fletcher together of letting England players rest up from the Championship when it is patently obvious that they should be sharpening their skills rather than resting on their laurels.

Fletcher's constant digs at Championship cricket are a lot of rot and his blinkered view leaves him blind to the fact that England have got worse rather than better since the county structure was blamed for everything.

Hopefully, Vaughan will not go along with this tired and discredited view.

He needs to be his own man with his own fresh ideas, but if he can add the best qualities of England captains chosen from Yorkshire's ranks since the 1939-45 war then he should turn out to be one of the outstanding leaders.

Norman Yardley was a captain and a gentleman, who showed politeness at all times whether on or of the field. But he had sufficient inner steel to dismiss Don Bradman in three consecutive innings as well setting a fifth-wicket record stand against South Africa of 237 with Denis Compton at Trent Bridge in 1947.

Like Vaughan, Len Hutton captained England but not Yorkshire and also like Vaughan he was a class act with the bat, one of the best there has ever been. Quiet by nature but utterly determined, he became England's first regular professional captain, winning back the Ashes in the Coronation year of 1953 and successfully defending them in Australia in 1954-55. When his career was finished he became the second cricketer behind Jack Hobbs to be knighted for his services to the game.

Ray Illingworth captained England on 31 occasions after leaving Yorkshire for Leicestershire and he won back the Ashes in the winter of 1970-71 after they had been in Aussie hands for 12 years. Vaughan should take on board Illingworth's shrewdness and his ability to probe every weak link in the opposition's armoury. Brian Close only captained England seven times during a Test career which spanned 1949-76 but they never lost under his command. His leadership for county and country was inspirational and his courage has become legendary. If Vaughan can spare ten minutes to listen to Close on Fletcher he will leave with his ears ringing.

What happened in the Gloucestershire first innings against Yorkshire at Cheltenham last week that has never happened for Yorkshire?

The answer is that four consecutive batsmen all had three Christian initials - W P C Weston, T H C Hancock, M G N Windows and A P R Gidman, with M C J Ball and J M M Averis coming in further down the order. Strangely, Yorkshire had three players taking part in the match with three Christian initials which is something of a rarity, the trio being C E W Silverwood, A K D Gray and R K J Dawson. Although three initials have been uncommon in Yorkshire's ranks down the years, the notable former players include D E V Padgett, W H H Sutcliffe, C W J Athey and - someone mentioned earlier in this Diary - N W D Yardley.