It was the dream start for new captain, Darren Gough, and his resurgent Yorkshire team of three wins from the first four Championship matches - and it would have been four victories had Hampshire's ninth wicket pair not blocked it out for 14 tense overs at the Rose Bowl.

In the Friends Provident Trophy, too, Yorkshire soared to the top of the North Conference table with emphatic wins in their first two matches.

Suddenly, Yorkshire's difficult winter had been forgotten as the team went from one success to another in those euphoric opening weeks of the season.

But the first chink in the armour occurred at Riverside where Durham beat them in a hard fought contest by six wickets and although Yorkshire remained at the head of the Championship table throughout the midsummer floods their spirit had been dampened by the time the dry weather returned in August.

Lancashire dented their confidence by winning the Roses match at Headingley by a record margin, bottom club Worcestershire successfully chased a 336 target at Kidderminster and after picking themselves up against Warwickshire at Scarborough Yorkshire were thrashed at Hove by Sussex who went on to retain the title on the final day of the season.

In the end, Yorkshire could only manage sixth place in the Championship table, the same as last year, but at least relegation never threatened throughout the whole of the summer and the top half of the table was more familiar territory to them than the bottom.

At least Yorkshire were not the dire side in one-day cricket that they had been over the two previous seasons but improvements are needed if they are to make it to a Lord's final in the Friends Provident Trophy in the foreseeable future or gain promotion in the NatWest Pro40 League.

Whether the team had any good reason to feel unhappy under the management of David Byas remains debatable but there is no doubt that they responded well to the return of Gough and director of cricket, Martyn Moxon, who formed an ideal partnership together.

Moxon is right when he says that consistency is the ingredient which Yorkshire need most and that they must learn to maintain discipline in their play from the first ball of the season until the last.

Although 2006 was something of an exception, Yorkshire too often start out with a roar and finish with a whimper and they must discover how to pace the season better.

Nobody was more disappointed than Gough that Yorkshire faltered late on but he himself was superb, proving himself to be a good leader and at the same time often managing to roll back the years and bowl like he did when he was among the best in the world.

Gough was his side's leading wicket-taker among the pacemen with 37 dismissals at 23.67 runs apiece, the most victims he has claimed for the Tykes since 1996.

It was Yorkshire's good fortune that Matthew Hoggard was free to play in ten Championship matches and his 17 wickets from the first four games did much to bring about the flying start, but Jason Gillespie was a big disappointment before returning early to Australia and the attack was further weakened by a succession of injuries to Deon Kruis.

The hugely talented Adil Rashid had greater success with his leg-spin in the early part of the season before the bad weather set in and later on he enjoyed a golden spell with the bat. He was still the club's leading wicket-taker with 40 dismissals to put alongside his 790 runs and a Test career for the 19-year-old from Bradford appears inevitable sooner or later.

Joe Sayers began the season in style with three centuries, all marathon efforts which underlined his powers of concentration, but a dramatic loss of form immediately after receiving his first team cap resulted in him losing his place which was a fate which also befell the evergreen Craig White.

Anthony McGrath continued to show that he is Yorkshire's best homegrown batsman by a mile but a missed match in April with a chest infection and his absence from the final game with a calf injury caused him to fall just short of registering 1,000 first class runs for a third consecutive season.

Pakistan batsman, Younus Khan, became the only Yorkshire batsman to score a century and a double century in the same match and he weighed in with another double century at Scarborough but he was not reliable and all but 300 of his 825 runs came in three innings.

The elegant and unflappable, Jacques Rudolph, was Yorkshire's outstanding batsman, scoring more runs in the Championship (1,078) and in limited overs matches (687) than any of his colleagues.

Regardless of what one feels about Kolpak players, the South African left-hander is a class act and at least Yorkshire knew they had him for the full season which is more than they could say of their overseas stars.

Perhaps Yorkshire flattered to deceive in 2007 but it was still a far happier and more successful summer than might have been the case after a winter of discontent.