YORKSHIRE County Cricket Club's Board are not going to rush into choosing a new club captain, following the resignation of Craig White.

Yorkshire chief executive Stewart Regan said that the board would discuss the captaincy as soon as they had collected their thoughts, but added that there would be no rush.

White stunned the players after Saturday's final Championship match of the season against Durham at Headingley by telling them that he was giving up the captaincy after doing the job for three years.

And soon afterwards, Yorkshire announced that they were parting ways with former England off-spinner Richard Dawson, who had just been told that he had not been given a new contract for next season.

These two announcements came immediately after Yorkshire had drawn the match with Durham, which meant that both sides had escaped relegation.

Regan and former president Robin Smith joined the players for champagne to toast the team's survival in division one and they also drank to Darren Lehmann, who returned to Australia yesterday at the end of seven seasons with Yorkshire.

White said: "I believe that the time is now right to make way for someone else.

"I led the team to promotion in the Championship last season and we have managed to stay up this year. I am proud of my record and I believe that having stayed up we can win the title next year.

"I am not surprised at our revival in recent weeks because we have only shown just what we are capable of doing, but I am surprised that we didn't perform better earlier in the season.

"It is quite mind boggling why we didn't click earlier considering the team that we have got.

"It is so encouraging to have two young leg-spinners of the quality of Mark Lawson and Adil Rashid and I think they will be able to do practically anything next year.

"I am still contracted as a player for next season and I will support to the hilt whoever takes over as captain."

Regan said: "Craig remains a vital part of our batting line-up and his performances in recent matches have been particularly impressive.

"There is no doubting his commitment to Yorkshire and his decision to stand down as captain has probably taken a monkey off his back."

David Byas, the director of cricket, said: "Craig has given 120 per cent. He took us up to the First Division of the Championship and we have stayed there and I would like to say a huge thank you to him. He has done as much as he can."

White will have been aware that behind-the-scenes talks about the captaincy have been going on for a while and he may have wisely pre-empted any moves to oust him by getting in first.

He has been a popular captain in what is sometimes seen as a divided dressing room on other matters.

Yorkshire may now decide to appoint a successor from outside, otherwise Bradford-born Anthony McGrath must be favourite to be given the job for a second time.

Dawson's departure comes as no surprise. He has failed to produce anywhere near his best form for a couple of seasons and he was axed from this year's Championship side at around the half-year stage, having taken eight wickets at an average of 87.62 runs apiece. His one-day performances have also been disappointing.

Dawson, who made his debut for Yorkshire in 2001, played in 72 first class matches, scoring 2,298 runs for an average of 23.69 and capturing 157 wickets at 41.04 runs apiece. In all one-day matches he collected 90 wickets at 30.12.