Tim Bresnan has been appointed as Yorkshire’s new vice captain, with the talismanic all-rounder admitting his pride and surprise at being asked to fulfil the role by Gary Ballance.

Yorkshire’s new captain contacted Bresnan while in Australia, where he is preparing for today’s Big Bash final with Perth Scorchers against Sydney Sixers.

It is a break from the norm at Headingley, where the squad has succeeded without a vice captain in recent seasons.

Ballance, however, was keen to appoint one, and he has chosen the club’s 2016 Player of the Year to work alongside him and coach Andrew Gale.

“I was surprised to be asked to be honest,” said Bresnan. “Gary phoned me and asked ‘I’ve got to ask you something mate, would you be vice-captain?’

“‘I was like ‘yes, I’m over the moon’.

“It was a bit of a shock because we haven’t really named one over the past few years. It just came out of the blue. I never even thought Gaz would be having one.

“It does make sense, though, if he gets called up for internationals. I’m immensely proud, and it will be great to work with him and Galey. I’ll just do whatever is required.

“As such, pretty much everyone in the team is in the senior leadership group.

“In the past five or six years we’ve just done it like a Chinese parliament. We’ve basically just talked through what was going wrong and how we were going to improve as a collective.

“There’s never been any sort of group that has sat down separately, we’ve always sat down as a whole to decide which direction we’re heading in.

“I’m immensely excited for the new season.

“Whenever there’s change, some people are put off by it. Some people see change as a new challenge or chapter. I think that’s exactly what we’re going through.

“Gaz is going to bring something a little bit different than what Andrew Gale did as captain, and Galey as a coach is going to bring something different than what Dizzy did.

“Change is a good thing as long as you’re all pulling in the same direction and singing from the same sheet.’’

He added: “I’m always excited to represent Yorkshire and excited to see what the future brings under the new regime.

“It think it’s going to be really good, and we’re going to play a positive brand of cricket as we have done, with Galey being immensely positive and Gary knowing exactly what’s expected of him to be able to succeed. I think we’ve got the right mix.”

Down Under, Bresnan has taken six wickets from four matches for the Scorchers after replacing county colleague David Willey as the team’s overseas player earlier this month.

“I’m loving it,” he added. “I’m having so much fun interacting with the fans. We’ve had a really good welcome from Perth Scorchers, and we’ve been playing good cricket.”

Director of cricket Martyn Moxon added: “Tim will have a very important role, particularly as that link between the players and the captain.

“He’ll fulfil that very well because he’s an ideal candidate.

“As with Gary, he’s got the respect of the dressing room, and he’s not afraid to say the harsh words when they need to be said. At the same time, he is very supportive of his team-mates.”

Matthew Fisher has been named in the MCC's team to take on Middlesex in the annual champion county fixture in Abu Dhabi in March.

The seamer, 19, has not played a first-class match since September 2015 due to a series of hamstring injuries.

Fisher will line up alongside England duo Haseeb Hameed and Ben Duckett for the match on March 26-29. He is currently in India captaining England under 19s.

MCC: Haseeb Hameed, Tom Alsop, Sam Northeast c, Ben Duckett, Joe Clarke, Ben Cox, Lewis Gregory, Matt Coles, Matt Fisher, Mason Crane, Jack Leach.