Fear of losing emerging talent if White Rose fail to blossom

“Winning promotion in the Championship is the only thing that matters because in 2013 it’s our 150th anniversary, and in our anniversary year we should be striving to win the Championship,” said Boycott.

“We can’t do that in the Second Division, so we have to get out of it.

“The members want it and the members deserve it.”

Boycott went on to cite the obvious cricketing imperative.

Namely, that a club as big as Yorkshire, and with the resources available, should be playing in the First Division.

But there is another reason why it is important that Yorkshire fulfil Boycott’s objective.

A reason which, as a former player, he will doubtless appreciate as well as anyone.

For, just as it does not suit Yorkshire’s supporters for the club to be playing in Division Two, that is equally true of the club’s young players with designs on participating in international cricket.

Yorkshire are blessed with a crop of young talent – a crop as healthy as any on the county circuit.

Several players have the ability to aspire to the highest level, to make their mark on the England scene.

But that process can only be aided, and even advanced, if they are playing and competing in the Championship’s top-flight.

It was interesting to read the comments of Mick Newell, the Nottinghamshire director of cricket, that he felt James Taylor’s transition to Division One, following his move from Leicestershire to Trent Bridge, played a key factor in securing his England place.

Although Taylor had impressed on the England periphery, the selectors wanted him to test himself against better bowlers.

“There is no doubt that England wanted to see him play some Division One cricket and being tested against the better bowling attacks,” said Newell.

“He is starting to show signs, which particularly started in one-day cricket, of showing that talent and skill coming through, and his four-day form has picked up.”

Of course, every player is a different case.

England may have had reservations about Taylor which have now been allayed following his move to Nottinghamshire.

But although the selectors are alive to those plying their trade in Division Two, as evidenced by the fact Yorkshire’s Jonny Bairstow is back in the Test side and that county team-mate Joe Root is playing for the Lions, the qualities of those two are perhaps more obvious and there remains a general perception that performances in Division One count for more.

Yorkshire’s Adil Rashid, for example, a bowler who has struggled this summer, was 
cited as being back to his best after taking a five-wicket haul against Northamptonshire this month.

But how many picked up their newspapers the following day and thought: “Yes, but he was only playing against Northamptonshire”, and then thought the same again when he followed up with career-best List A figures against the same opponents?

The statistics show there is a clear gap between the two divisions.

Since the change to two-up, two-down in 2006, six of the 10 relegated sides have climbed straight back up.

Ultimately, it is one of those issues that will be endlessly debated, and it is perhaps a question of perception as much as anything.

Maybe it also comes down to how well a player performs on television, for would it be impudent to suggest that a century or five-wicket haul in front of Charles Colvile et al is worth more than if the cameras were not present?