Martyn Moxon says Yorkshire must treat their remaining County Championship fixtures like they are “six cup finals”.

The Tykes county go into tomorrow’s match against Essex at Chelmsford with a 21-point lead at the top of LV= Division One, although second and third-placed Nottinghamshire and Lancashire have two games in hand.

Moxon said: “We have six cup finals left as they are massive games. We’ve played ten games very well so far. If we can maintain that sort of form, then we have a good chance of winning it.

“We’ve got Brezzy (Tim Bresnan) and (Ajmal) Shahzad potentially coming back, but we’ve been pleased with the lads that have been playing while they’ve been away.

“Essex have also got their England players available, so it should be a very entertaining match.”

Director of professional cricket Moxon and captain Andrew Gale could have a difficult task when it comes to selecting their side seen as Bresnan and Shahzad – injury permitting – are both available before England’s Test series against Pakistan.

Azeem Rafiq is also in the squad but if not selected will link up with the England under-19s squad for their Test series against Sri Lanka, while Anthony McGrath has recovered from a thumb injury.

Moxon said it would be “touch and go” as to whether Shahzad plays due to the hamstring injury he picked up playing for England last week.

Yorkshire can now forget about their unsuccessful Friends Provident Twenty20 campaign, in which they lost nine of their 16 North Division fixtures.

After Sunday’s win against Derbyshire, Moxon again referred to a number of missed opportunities throughout their 20-over campaign.

“It is disappointing and frustrating not to be in the quarter-finals,” he said.

“But I think the weekend was very encouraging to see Ben Sanderson, Lee Hodgson and Gary Ballance all come in and contribute something. That stands us in good stead.

“It’s been a feature of this season that everyone in the squad has contributed in all forms of the game. They have all shown that they can play under pressure.”

Should Yorkshire win this week, they will complete the double over Essex after a comprehensive three-day win at Scarborough in early May.

But wicketkeeper James Foster’s side have since beaten title favourites Notts inside three days at Chelmsford for only their second win of the season.

Moxon said: “We will have to play well to beat them. They will be full of confidence after their win over Notts.”