Yorkshire batsman Anthony McGrath has hailed the county’s pre-season preparations as a reason why they were so consistent during the summer of 2010.

The White Rose county went close to winning two competitions last season, the LV= County Championship and the Clydesdale Bank 40.

And the squad are already back in training at Headingley, and have been for over a month as they look to build on their progress next summer.

McGrath made his professional debut in 1995, a handful of years before the introduction of 12-month contracts into county cricket.

There were times when players used to fill their winters with day jobs before reporting back to their counties in January, or even later, ahead of an April start to the English domestic season.

But things have changed dramatically now, with a six-week break at the end of the season the norm.

The 35-year-old former captain said: “We’ve definitely been coming back earlier and earlier down the years.

“In the past we’ve come back in January, and you can be catching up on your fitness as well as trying to cram in cricket.

“If you do too much in a short time period, it can catch up on you later in the summer.

“We felt we were very consistent in our performances last season, and I think that was down to our preparations.

“There’s not too many of us about at the moment with a number of our players being in sunnier climes. But to get a bit of fitness training in before we start working on our games has really helped.

“We’ve followed a similar format over the last couple of winters.”

Yorkshire will not be travelling abroad for a pre-season tour, but are exploring their options in terms of a UK-based training camp in March. Chelmsford is a possibility.

McGrath, who scored more than 1,000 runs in the Championship last season following a barren run of form the year before, has warned against rising expectations at Headingley after the encouraging signs shown during Andrew Gale’s first campaign as captain.

But the former England man still sees his colleagues challenging for silverware in 2011.

“You’ve got to be a little bit careful because we’ve got so many young players,” he said.

“And with young players you can get that little bit of a dip in consistency and form.

“But there’s certainly no other reason to suggest why we shouldn’t improve next year given what we did last season.

“If we can match what we did last season and add a little bit extra, we should be somewhere near in each competition.”

The 2011 county fixtures are expected to be released tomorrow.