Yorkshire will choose their captain for the coming season at Thursday's meeting of the management board which will also formally end Wayne Clark's role as director of coaching.

The decision by cricket supremo Geoff Cope to resolve the captaincy issue now rather than in March indicates that Yorkshire have accepted that overseas star Darren Lehmann will be unavailable to go on doing the job.

Despite his current five-match ban from one-day internationals because of his racist comments, Lehmann remains an almost automatic choice for Australia's tour of the West Indies which begins in April and goes on into June.

Yorkshire have no wish for him to be missing for a large part of the summer, as happened last year, and he is likely to resume his contract with the county in 2004.

But finding a replacement captain for Lehmann will not be easy and the two leading contenders are Bradford-born Anthony McGrath and wicketkeeper Richard Blakey who did well when he stood in for Lehmann in the latter part of last season.

Lehmann's fellow Australian, Matthew Elliott, who captains Victoria, must also be worth considering but Yorkshire are probably looking for someone from within their own ranks.

Darren Gough is known to have spoken enthusiastically about captaining his native county but with his fitness still in doubt and a question mark over whether he will even be given a new contract it is difficult to see him as a serious contender.

At the moment, Gough is undergoing a rehab programme on his injured knee but his medical advisers are happy with his progress and are keeping Yorkshire in touch with the situation.

There is still no clear indication, however, just when Yorkshire will be able to decide whether Gough is sufficiently fit to stay with the club.

Blakey had a magnificent season with the bat last summer when he topped 1,000 first-class runs and he is the most experienced player on Yorkshire's books but to hand him the captaincy at 36 would be a short-term measure.

McGrath has the best credentials because he is a class batsman who, at 27, has still got many years of first class cricket ahead.

His main handicap is patchy form but he showed signs of greater consistency last summer when he played several important innings.

Meanwhile, it is believed that Yorkshire and Clark have agreed how his contract should be terminated.

Updated: 13:07 Tuesday, January 21, 2003