After years of strife, Headingley starts the County season with a new coach, a strong squad and a burning desire to prove the critics wrong

The spring sun beams down benevolently on Leeds and the mood at Headingley is buoyant. After the turbulent years following the fallout from Azeem Rafiq’s revelations, relegation in 2022 and two years of fines, disappearing sponsors, a points deduction and strained relationships between players and management, an uncanny calm seems to have settled over the spikey old ground.

There’s a new coach in town, a new captain, two new fast antipodean bowlers to pound into the Yorkshire turf in Jordan Buckingham and Ben Sears. The club are debt free after Sunrisers Hyderabad took a 100% stake in Northern Superchargers – though an argument over demutualisation is brewing on the horizon. There’s even a new coffee machine in the press box.