YORKSHIRE'S summer, which ended in wretched fashion at Essex, was a mixture of disappointing and frustrating with the odd positive thrown in to provide at least some cause for optimism.

In Championship cricket, their batting was the main area of concern and prompted much criticism as the county flirted dangerously with relegation. The nadir was being bowled out for 111 and 74 at Chelmsford earlier this week.

Only one century opening partnership, in the late-season draw against Surrey at The Oval between Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Shaun Marsh, was a glaring example of their problems.

As for the bowling, it was better than the batting without being top drawer, although injuries played a significant part on that side of things.

Ryan Sidebottom and Jack Brooks were both laid low on Yorkshire's pre-season tour in Dubai and missed the start of the campaign as a result.

For Brooks, in particular, he struggled to gain any momentum until the final few weeks of the campaign, which included a five-wicket haul in that aforementioned game at Surrey.

It was a similar scenario for Steve Patterson, who can at least reflect on a starring role in the thrilling two-wicket win over Warwickshire at Headingley in the penultimate round.

Patterson, having taken four wickets in the second innings, strode to the crease with Yorkshire at 96-7 chasing 175 and hit 44 not out to see them home.

Had they lost the game, they would have been going into the final round just two points clear of the relegation zone instead of 18.

Team-mate Alex Lees described it as the innings of a season which saw captain Gary Ballance as the standout batsman with 951 runs.

That haul included two hundreds in the April draw against Hampshire at Southampton, with him hitting an unbeaten 203 not out in the second innings.

Ballance's early form led him to gain a Test recall by England, something which was cut short by a fractured finger in the second Test against South Africa at Trent Bridge. He has, however, been named in this winter's Ashes squad.

The Warwickshire finish was not the only nail-biter. In June, Yorkshire beat Somerset at Taunton by just three runs as the hosts chased 262.

Somerset slipped from 231-6 to 258 all out and were relegated last week. For Yorkshire, it proved to be the biggest result of the year.

The biggest positive of their Championship season was the performances of new-ball seamer Ben Coad, who claimed 50 wickets in his breakthrough campaign – including four five-wicket hauls and one ten-wicket match.

As a result, he should figure heavily at Yorkshire's awards dinner next week.

The Royal London Cup one-day competition saw Yorkshire finish second in the North Group before being defeated by Surrey in a home quarter-final at Headingley.

It is fair to say they were Kumar Sangakkara-ed that day – and twice more to boot. The legendary Sri Lankan scored hundreds against the White Rose county facing white, pink and red balls this summer.

Yorkshire certainly played some good cricket in that competition but they need to find a way of getting over the line in knockout matches. It is something which is becoming a significant issue.

Ballance and Australian Peter Handscomb both impressed with the bat in that competition, although more was expected from the latter during his half a season with the club in all competitions.

How the Vikings did not qualify for at least the quarter-finals of the NatWest T20 Blast is a head-scratcher. After a good start, they slipped, with away losses to Durham and Leicestershire proving hammer blows.

For all the criticism of the Championship batting, some of their displays in the shortest format were scintillating.

They posted 200-plus in an innings on four occasions, including a record 260-4 in a home win over defending champions Northamptonshire.

It was an English record score and fell just four runs short of the world record. That innings included a stunning 161 off 73 balls by Adam Lyth, also an English record and 14 short of the world-record score.

Yorkshire's net run-rate of 1.127 was more than double the next best team in the competition, yet they still finished two points outside the top-four places.

So this winter there is plenty to work on and ponder for coach Andrew Gale and his Yorkshire squad.

Will there be some personnel changes? Probably.

Do the White Rose county need to improve to challenge for a third Championship title in five years and a first piece of limited-overs silverware since 2001? Definitely.

For this was a summer they will want to put behind them pretty quickly, their worst since 2011 when they were relegated.