Former Yorkshire coach Craig White will begin his path to becoming an international umpire in January when he undertakes the necessary qualification course.

The 41-year-old ex-England all-rounder, who debuted for the county in 1990, announced his decision to leave the first-team coach's role after two seasons earlier this week amidst the ongoing restructuring of the Headingley coaching staff.

White is aiming for the top as he undertakes "a total career change", but accepts it could take him as long as five years even to get on the ECB's first-class list.

Until then, ‘Chalky', who first became interested in umpiring when he finished playing, will look at things such as coaching juniors or even playing league cricket to pay the bills.

He said: "There's a course that starts in January, although I've still got to finalise the dates. Then, once you're qualified, it's about getting as much experience and umpiring as many games as you can.

"I've spoken to Chris Kelly (umpires' manager) at the ECB, and he told me to just get on the course and demonstrate a commitment to umpiring. He could then get hold of me and say ‘right, we'll fast-track you onto the second-team list or whatever'.

"But they want to see an initial commitment from me to umpiring, which is why I've come out and said what I want to do.

"It might take me three, four or five years to get on that first-class list, and a lot of things can happen between now and then. Who's to say that I might not like it or I might not be that good at it?

"There were parts of coaching that I became disillusioned with. I just don't think it was for me. This is a total career change. I realise I'll have to do bits and bobs in between. It may be tough money wise, but it should be worthwhile if I make it."

There is definitely a realistic pathway to the international list for White. He only has to look at former Yorkshire team-mate Richard Kettleborough, who was awarded a place on the elite panel earlier this year, for inspiration.

And ex-Durham batsman Michael Gough, ten years White's junior, joined the ECB's first-class list in late 2008 as a 28-year-old. It took Gough just over five years from retirement to reach that level.

He was given the fourth umpire's duties for England's Twenty20 international against India at Old Trafford in August.

Yorkshire are still to announce White's replacement, or any of the other three coaching positions to work under director of professional cricket Martyn Moxon.

White added: "It will be interesting to see who gets appointed in the roles and how much influence they have on the team. That's the thing that will be most interesting. It's all up to how Martyn wants to go about it.

"There's no doubt in my mind that things will work out for them because they've got a lot of good young players with the capability of going a long way."