Yorkshire’s Liam Plunkett believes he has it easy going back to Durham to face his former team-mates in next week’s LV= County Championship division one clash.

Although the 28-year-old fast bowler from Middlesbrough will not face big mate Ian Blackwell after his winter retirement, he is set to battle against sparring partner Ben Stokes and possibly Mitch Claydon if he wins selection.

Plunkett opted to leave Durham last October, the county for whom he had played since his early teens, after a difficult two seasons which saw him play only three Championship matches due to injury and loss of form.

It was widely accepted that the nine-time England Test bowler desperately needed a change of scene to reignite his career.

“You get boxers and UFC fighters who have to fight against their best mates, don’t they. I’m glad I don’t have to do that. All I’m having to do is get them out,” he said.

“It’s good competition and tough work on the field, but I’m sure I’ll be having a bite to eat with some of them off it.

“It’s where I played all my county years, and it should be good fun.

“It will good to play against my old team-mates and friends, and I’m certainly up for it. I feel like I’m bowling nicely at the minute, so I’m excited.

“I got to know so many good people there. Geoff Cook’s there as coach, and he’s been with me from the age of 13 or 14.

“Ian Blackwell left last year, Mitch Claydon is in and out of the team. They’re the two who I was really close to. Ben Stokes is another, and he’s still there and in the first team. Having said that, I get on with all of them.

“I’ve got some very fond memories, and I enjoyed the place. I won two Championship medals there, a one-day trophy. I also played for England at Chester-le-Street as well. But I knew it was the right time to move here to Yorkshire.”

Plunkett has certainly made an encouraging start to his career at Headingley.

After spending close to two months in Adelaide at the Darren Lehmann Academy over the winter, he toured Barbados with Yorkshire and then claimed career-best figures of 6-33 in the first-class match against Leeds/Bradford University earlier this month.

He took a wicket in last week’s Championship defeat against Sussex, and it will be a big surprise if he is the fall guy when England’s Tim Bresnan comes back into the team next week after recovering from elbow surgery.

Plunkett puts his good form down to his back to basics approach to bowling, which has been encouraged by Jason Gillespie and Andrew Gale.

He added: “They’ve been great to me. They’ve just said ‘try to hit the pitch as hard as you can’. When I usually do that, everything else fits into place. I’m bowling in good areas instead of worrying about certain stuff. That’s how you get your wickets.

“When I feel good about myself, it’s when I’m running in bowling at 90mph. It’s just about getting that consistency I guess. It feels so natural to do that. I’m quite a fit guy. I take pride in my fitness, so being quite strong allows me to do that.”