Yorkshire ended the season in sixth place in the County Championship table, the highest they had been all summer, but this tended to give an air of respectability to the campaign which they did not deserve.

Much of their time was spent fighting a tough battle to avoid relegation to Division Two in the most important of all the competitions, while their performances in the one-day arena continued to be quite abysmal with little sign of any significant improvement.

It was all so disappointing after the new year had dawned brightly, with Yorkshire purchasing Headingley to become ground owners for the first time in their history and then appointing an energetic and go-ahead chief executive in Stewart Regan, for whom only the best will do.

Unfortunately, success off the field could not be converted into success on it, although Yorkshire still did just enough to stay in the top flight of the Championship - but nowhere near sufficient to prevent them finishing bottom of Division Two in the NatWest Pro 40 League or making any impact in the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy.

Had Yorkshire shown as much determination earlier in the season as they did in the last few weeks, then things may have been different, but for much of the time there were too many deficiencies in the team for them to become a real fighting unit.

For a start, they were badly served by their openers, who rarely managed to click together, and the fact that there were only two first-wicket stands above 40 all season underlines the seriousness of the situation.

Yorkshire had hoped that Matthew Wood and Joe Sayers would make a prolific opening pair but they both suffered a desperate loss of form in the first half of the summer and Wood never managed to get over it, losing his place in both the Championship side and at one-day level.

Sayers, the former Oxford Blue, did begin to show more consistency as the season wore on, while Craig White scored freely when he moved from No 6 to open the innings, but the pair could still not get Yorkshire off to the good starts they craved.

On only two occasions did Yorkshire manage to make 400 in the first innings to gain maximum batting points and their batting, generally, would have been even more brittle had it not been for Darren Lehmann and Anthony McGrath, who between them scored 2,999 of their side's 8,274 runs, including extras.

It had been expected that new Australian signing Jason Gillespie, South African Deon Kruis and Tim Bresnan, supported - when England permitted - by Matthew Hoggard, would give Yorkshire one of the sharpest attacks in county cricket, yet this never really materialised.

Gillespie could not be faulted for his wholehearted effort and determination but rarely did he look the Goliath who had slain so many England batsmen over the past decade.

Perhaps general tiredness from round-the-year cricket at the highest level had taken its toll because the Australian had to work extremely hard for his disappointing haul of 36 Championship wickets, each one costing 33.61 runs.

Kruis was also not the bowler he had been the previous summer, when he was the leading wicket-taker with 64 dismissals at 30.64 runs apiece. He again topped the list but this time with only 38 wickets at 35.31, although he did miss the first three matches with a torn calf muscle and he came good later on with 21 wickets in the last five games.

Bresnan was his usual reliable self in the first half of the season and he joined England's ranks for the one-day series against Sri Lanka, when they were soundly thrashed, but a stress fracture of the back then caused him to drop out of the first team until the final match.

Gerard Brophy had been signed from Northamptonshire in an attempt to strengthen the wicketkeeper-batsman role but he struggled to make runs and it was Simon Guy who looked much the sharper behind the stumps, particularly when standing up to the spinners.

Yet for all of their team's shortcomings, Yorkshire fans have taken away some marvellous memories of the 2006 season - not least being the sheer brilliance of Lehmann, who signed off at Headingley in the most incredible way imaginable by rattling up 339 against Durham on his final appearance for his adopted county.

Just three more runs would have given him Yorkshire's highest-ever score, although he was not upset at seeing the record stay with great all-rounder George Hirst. "He was a better player than me," said Lehmann, in all modesty. A better bowler, perhaps...

McGrath almost matched Lehmann in output until the very last game and he thoroughly deserved his 1,293 runs at an average of 61.57. Ask Lehmann why England ditched McGrath so early and he will shake his head in bewilderment. He thinks he should be on the forthcoming Ashes tour.

Then, of course, there are the magical leg-spin twins, Adil Rashid and Mark Lawson, who have brought a new dimension to county cricket as well as adding enchantment to the second half of the summer.

Never before have two leg-spinners bowled in tandem for Yorkshire and they fed off each other, each one eager to outshine his partner for the good of the team. It was wonderful stuff to watch and, as retiring captain White says, there may be no limits to what they can achieve next season.

Rashid's achievements were perhaps the greater, as he was less experienced and starting from scratch in the first team, but Lawson also bowled with tremendous skill. There was little between them in the end, Rashid capturing 25 wickets at 25.16 runs apiece in 180.2 overs and Lawson 26 wickets at a more costly 34.50 in 207 overs.

There is no Lehmann to look forward to next season but if Rashid and Lawson continue to sparkle then Yorkshire should still be worth watching, whatever the team may do - and whoever is appointed to lead them.