Martyn Moxon has warned Yorkshire’s players that they must cut out their periods of sloppy play if they are to make a success of 2012.

The White Rose county’s director of professional cricket will take a backward step in the day-to-day running of the first-team, with Jason Gillespie the man in charge ahead of the first LV= County Championship Division Two match against Kent at Headingley on April 5.

But he was in charge last season when Yorkshire regularly let positions of strength slip, most notably in the four-day home match against Nottinghamshire.

Yorkshire and Hampshire will be the bookies’ favourites to achieve promotion back to the top flight at the first attempt.

And, while the former England opener is confident that goal can be achieved, he has sounded a note of caution.

He said: “I believe in the ability that this squad of players has. We’re not quite there yet, obviously, but there is an excitement about the players we’ve got.

“It’s a very talented group but we just need to be a little less careless at times and show more maturity.

“There was a frustration looking at the amount of chances we had to win games. If we were being thrashed every week, we’d be worried. But the fact is that we were competitive. We didn’t play well enough for long enough to win matches.

“Hopefully we’ll get what we want, which is a successful team and not just a one-hit wonder.”

Yorkshire have announced a pre-season tour of Barbados from March 12-26.

They have matches scheduled against Hampshire and Nottinghamshire, while they will play in an inter-counties Twenty20 tournament for the third year running.