Yorkshire will begin the 2011 cricket season with a trip to New Road to face LV= County Championship Division One new boys Worcestershire on April 8-11.

Andrew Gale’s side have been handed a favourable start against county cricket’s yo-yo team, and will be confident of getting off to a flier.

It is the first of eight Championship fixtures for the White Rose county before June 1 in a similarly hectic start to last season.

Three of those eight are at home, with 2008 and 2009 champions Durham the first visitors to Headingley between April 14-17.

“That could be a good start for us,” said winter signing Ryan Sidebottom. “The better start you can get off to, the more momentum and confidence you can build throughout the whole season.

“Worcestershire have just come up from Division Two, and it will be massive for us. I think we can beat a side like Worcester, which would get us off to a really good start.

“It would get everybody buzzing. The other sides would also see us towards the top of the league and think 'Yorkshire will be a tough side to beat this year, we'd better watch out for them’.”

The former Nottinghamshire left-arm swing bowler will not have to wait too long to face his old team-mates, with a Headingley date against the champions inked in for April 20-23.

There are five four-day fixtures in what promises to be a gruelling May.

With Old Trafford in the middle of its redevelopment, Yorkshire will travel to Liverpool for the away Roses fixture, played between May 18-21.

The conditions at the Aigburth venue will suit Sidebottom, who also joked: “I’m ready for copping a massive amount of abuse from their supporters at Old Trafford during the Twenty20s.”

He continued: “I always try and get a little bit of information about various outgrounds, and I think it swings at Liverpool. I’m really looking forward to that.”

The group stages of the Friends Provident Twenty20 competition runs between June 3 and July 15, although there are two Championship fixtures sandwiched in between.

Yorkshire’s opening Clydesdale Bank 40 fixture is against Holland at Headingley on April 24, with supporters digging out their passports for the return trip on July 31, also a Sunday. The venue is to be arranged.

Sidebottom added: “I’ve settled in well over the last six weeks or so, and I’m really enjoying training. I can’t wait to get on the field.”