Champions Yorkshire given difficult route to title hat-trick

The club will begin their quest for a third successive County Championship title with a match against Hampshire at Headingley from April 17.

Andrew Gale’s men face newly-promoted Lancashire in the Championship at Leeds from May 29, with the return fixture at Old Trafford from August 13.

“I always look forward to fixtures day,” said captain Gale.

“There’s so many matches to digest, we try not to get too far ahead of ourselves. The first game against Hampshire at Headingley looks good and as always there is a lot of cricket to be played in the opening two months of the season.”

Yorkshire face the other promoted side, Surrey, at Headingley from May 8 before travelling to the Oval on July 11.

As usual, Yorkshire have six Championship home matches at Headingley and two at Scarborough.

This year’s visitors to the seaside are Middlesex, whom Yorkshire play at North Marine Road from July 3, and Nottinghamshire, who visit from August 23.

In addition, Yorkshire play two of their four home group games in the Royal London Cup at Scarborough.

Northamptonshire are the visitors in the 50-over tournament on June 14, with Nottinghamshire also providing the opposition on July 27.

Yorkshire’s biggest match of the season in terms of numbers and revenue is the annual T20 Blast fixture against Lancashire, which takes place at Headingley on July 1.

The reverse fixture at Old Trafford is on June 3.

Yorkshire’s season actually starts on March 20, when they face MCC in the annual Champion County game in Abu Dhabi.

The campaign ends in late September at Lord’s - the ground where Yorkshire clinched the title last summer - when they take on 2015 runners-up Middlesex.

Yorkshire’s 2016 fixtures

County Championship Division One

Sun April 17-Wed April 20 v Hampshire at Headingley

Sun April 24-Wed April 23 v Warwickshire at Edgbaston

Sun May 1 -Wed May 4 v Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge

Sun May 8-Wed May 11 v Surrey at Headingley

Sun May 15-Wed May 18 v Somerset at Taunton

Sun May 29-Wed June 1 v Lancashire at Headingley

Mon June 20-Thur June 23 v Durham at Chester-le-Street

Sun July 3-Wed July 6 v Middlesex at Scarborough

Mon July 11-Thur July 14 v Surrey at the Oval

Thur Aug 4-Sun Aug 7 v Warwickshire at Headingley

Sat Aug 13-Tue Aug 16 v Lancashire at Old Trafford

Tue Aug 23-Fri Aug 26 v Nottinghamshire at Scarborough

Wed Aug 31-Sat Sep 3 v Hampshire at Southampton

Tue Sep 6-Fri Sep 9 v Durham at Headingley

Mon Sep 12-Thur Sep 15 v Somerset at Headingley

Tue Sep 20-Fri Sep 23 v Middlesex at Lord’s

Royal London One-Day Cup

Tue June 7 v Worcestershire at Headingley

Sun June 12 v Derbyshire at Derby

Tue June 14 v Northamptonshire at Scarborough

Wed June 15 v Lancashire at Old Trafford

Sun July 24 v Leicestershire at Grace Road

Wed July 27 v Nottinghamshire at Scarborough

Sun July 31 v Durham at Chester-le-Street

Mon Aug 1 v Warwickshire at Headingley

Wed/Thur Aug 17/18 - Quarter-finals

Sun/Mon Aug 28/29 - Semi-finals

Sat Sep 17 - Final at Lord’s

NatWest T20 Blast

Fri May 27 v Leicestershire at Headingley

Thur June 2 v Worcestershire at New Road

Fri June 3 v Lancashire at Old Trafford

Fri June 10 v Birmingham Bears at Edgbaston

Fri June 17 v Nottinghamshire at Headingley

Sun June 19 v Derbyshire at Headingley

Fri June 24 v Durham at Chester-le-Street

Fri July 1 v Lancashire at Headingley

Fri July 8 v Birmingham Bears at Headingley

Sun July 10 v Derbyshire at Chesterfield

Sun July 15 v Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge

Wed July 20 v Durham at Headingley

Fri July 22 v Northamptonshire at Headingley

Fri July 29 v Northamptonshire at Northampton

Mon/Thur Aug 8/11 - Quarter-finals

Sat Aug 20 Finals Day at Edgbaston

Other Yorkshire matches

Sun Mar 20-Wed Mar 23 v MCC Champion County Match at Abu Dhabi

Mon Apr 11-Wed Apr 13 v Leeds/Bradford MCCU at Headingley

Sun June 26-Wed June 29 v Pakistan A at Headingley

England matches

Thur May 19-Mon May 23 v Sri Lanka Test match at Headingley

Thur Sep 1 v Pakistan One-Day International at Headingley