Yorkshire remain hopeful all-rounder Tim Bresnan is on course to make a prompt return from the second operation on his right elbow that ruled him out of England's tour to New Zealand.

He was initially estimated to be sidelined for six to eight weeks after surgery for a second time in America last month, but has made good progress in his rehabilitation.

Now Yorkshire have pencilled him in to feature in their three-day friendly against Lancashire, starting at Headingley on April 16.

His return will provide a boost as Yorkshire seek to make a strong start on their return to division one, which will be helped by the availability of England pair Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow for most of the opening few matches.

Bairstow is available from the opener against Sussex at Headingley on April 10, while Root has been given an extra week off by the England selectors and can feature from the Roses friendly onwards - which raises the prospect of Yorkshire having all three England players in their line-up to face Lancashire.

The trio will then have less than a month to prove their form and fitness prior to the start of England's busy international summer, which begins with the opening Test against New Zealand at Lord's on May 16, continues into the Champions Trophy and culminates with the Ashes at the back end of the summer.

Their desire to be involved on the international stage should also provide great competition within the Yorkshire camp, and that strength in depth was a major factor in seamer Jack Brooks choosing Headingley ahead of a number of offers from other counties after choosing to leave Northamptonshire.

Brooks believes the Achilles injury which plagued for the majority of his final season with Northamptonshire was caused by being over-bowled - but realises he faces a battle for his place after settling into a squad that is already rich in seam bowling resources, facing competition from Ryan Sidebottom, Iain Wardlaw, Moin Ashraf, Steve Patterson, Richard Pyrah and Liam Plunkett.

"That was one of the reasons for coming here," said Brooks. "I wanted to come to a club with good bowling resources and Yorkshire ticked every box in terms of a quality bowling coach, a big squad, a team that will be challenging for the championship and other trophies as well.

"All the bowlers know that in order for us to compete on three fronts this season, we've got to be fresh. We know we're not all going to play every game when we're fit and we've got to be willing to take a back seat for a week every now and then to keep ourselves fresh and come back stronger."