RYAN Sidebottom is relishing the opportunity to help Yorkshire’s new signing David Willey improve his skills as a four-day bowler.

The county champions have pulled off the eye-catching capture of one of England’s most exciting limited overs cricketers ahead of 2016, although Willey has already spoken about his desire to break into the Test team as a major reason for the move.

Willey is a powerful all-rounder who opens the batting and bowling for Northamptonshire in limited overs cricket, and he shone with five wickets at T20 Finals Day on Saturday as his side reached the final.

But he is a raw talent with much work to do when it comes to LV= County Championship cricket, especially as a left-arm fast bowler.

And that is where Sidebottom’s presence as a team-mate will prove invaluable.

The 37-year-old is the spearhead of Yorkshire’s Championship attack. He has 694 first-class wickets ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Somerset at Headingley, including 29 wickets from seven matches this season.

"I think it's a great coup for the club,” said left-armer Sidebottom. “I'm not going to go on for ever. As things stand, I'm still enjoying it and have next year left on my contract.

"In one-day cricket, we've needed that impetus for a while, someone who bowls at the death and opens the batting and clears the ropes.

“If you've got that type of guy up top, with our middle order, we can go on and get bigger scores.

"David's still young and a bit raw. I'm looking forward to working with him. It's something I'd like to do when I finish. I think he's a great addition, and hopefully I can help him improve in some way.

"When I left Yorkshire for Notts, I learned a lot from the likes of Mark Ealham and Greg Smith about bowling in four-day cricket.

“It was all about trying to be as consistent as possible. If you're swinging and seaming the ball around and can bowl six balls in the same area, you're always going to be there and thereabouts.”

Yorkshire head into tomorrow’s clash with Somerset, their 13th match of the campaign, needing a maximum of 43 points from four matches to retain the Championship title.

They drew their last match on a turgid pitch against Sussex at Hove last weekend after struggling to get much assistance from the surface having posted 494 with the bat in their first innings.

Rain during the final two days of the match had the final say, but more life in the pitch would have given the visitors an outside chance of forcing a seventh successive win.

Yorkshire bowled well for the majority of the Sussex innings, only letting things slip after tea on day three when centurions Ben Brown and Mike Yardy scored the majority of 210 runs in the session as they reached 493-7.

"I think playing on a wicket like that can set the standard for the next four games,” added Sidebottom.

“The way we bowled early on, we pitched the ball up and made them play and miss quite a bit. When we find a wicket with a little bit more in it, we're more likely to get rewarded if we replicate that kind of thing.”