By Oliver Brett BBC Sport

DAVID BYAS FACTFILE Born: 26.8.1963 in Kilham, East Yorkshire First-class playing career: 15,082 runs at an average of 35.07 Highest score: 213 (Also hit 28 other first-class centuries) Honours: County Championship, 2001; Benson & Hedges Cup, 1987

He may have spent the 2003 season on the playing staff of Lancashire, but David Byas was part of the furniture at Yorkshire for nearly 20 years.

Born into a farming family in the East Riding, his playing career under the white rose emblem was a long and fruitful one. Now he returns as head coach.

Making his club debut in 1986, he soon found his niche as an undemonstrative but effective top-order batsman.

A regular opening partnership with Martyn Moxon was soon established.

Many other opening partners came and went, while Byas quietly cemented his own place in the side.

Success was not easy to come by, but Byas earned the right to captain the famous old club in 1996 as they continued to pursue an ambition to recapture the golden years.

Finally, shortly after celebrating his 38th birthday in August 2001, he took the catch in Scarborough against Glamorgan that saw Yorkshire claim their first Championship for 33 years.

But Byas somewhat surprisingly then announced he had had enough.

And in the two seasons since then, despite winning the 2002 C&G Trophy, the club has shown it cannot live without him.

Byas flanked by happy Yorkshire players in 2001

Yorkshire have only won six out of 34 Championship games in the last two seasons.

In Byas's absence, the Tykes plunged from being Champions to finishing bottom of the pile in 2002 and suffering relegation for the first time.

A new management board confidently predicted they would gain instant promotion in 2002. But they failed to do so.

And is it purely a coincidence that their loss of form coincided with Byas advertising his retirement before signing to play for arch-rivals Lancashire?

The reasons he gave for leaving were straightforward enough.

Just a month after holding aloft the trophy at Scarborough, he was talking of wanting to go "while he was still at the top."

But six months later, he was unveiled as the Red Rose county's replacement for John Crawley.

The reality is that Yorkshire's coach, Wayne Clark, felt fellow Australian Darren Lehmann would make a better captain than Byas in 2002. But the team failed to win a match that season and Clark was sacked.

Byas helped bring on talented players like Matthew Hoggard

Not that Lehmann, who will return in 2004, is likely to be upset by the return of Byas. The pair have long shown a mutual respect for each other.

Privately, many Yorkshire members will question how a man who spent a year playing for the enemy can have his heart 100% in the right place.

But Byas has always been an unconventional character. Critics of his captaincy bemoaned defensive declarations that gave the team little time to press for results.

He tended to regard himself as a professional farmer first and a cricketer second. His days off were often spent on a tractor on his farm near Driffield.

There is no doubt that experience of life outside the game made him a more rounded captain.