IN the first of a series of columns throughout the cricket season by Yorkshire and England batsman Anthony McGrath, he looks ahead to the new season, which starts on Friday, with The Press Yorkshire CCC reporter GRAHAM HARDCASTLE.

As much as it gets played down before the season starts, every single player has the same aim – to win trophies.

We got so close to doing it last year, both in the 40-over competition and the Championship.

Taking the Championship down to the last day against Kent was the closest we’ve come to winning it since we did so in 2001.

It is right that we could get affected by a number of England call-ups this summer, having had six or seven lads in various England squads over the winter, but we should be prepared for that.

We didn’t see too much of Brezzy (Tim Bresnan) and Ajmal (Ajmal Shahzad) last season, while we lost Galey (skipper Andreww Gale) for a couple of games due to his Lions commitments.

We’ve had plenty of experience of this, and we have a big enough squad to cope with it.

Our squad is a very competitive one, and one that should enable us to compete in all competitions.

We may have lost Jacques Rudolph, but we have Ryan Sidebottom back from Notts.

He is one of the best five bowlers in English cricket. I’m sure he will have a massive impact for us.

We have some extremely talented youngsters at the club, and I think that could work in our favour.

If you give young players a chance, they will surprise you. And it may not be just us they surprise. It could be opponents too. Other teams can sometimes take you a bit more lightly when you’ve got young lads playing.

In terms of my own situation, it’s looking like it will be touch and go as to whether I make the first game against Worcester on Friday due to more problems with my knee.

I was making really good progress after the surgery, but I’ve had a nerve problem in my back that has sent a kind of sciatic pain shooting down through my leg.

I had an injection late last week to see if that helps. I should know more in the next day or two.

If I do miss the first game, I’m pretty confident that I won’t be too far away from the next one.