Rich Pyrah is putting the finishing touches to his recovery from a broken hand by playing for Yorkshire's second team this week.

The all-rounder was one of the shining lights amid the wreckage of 2011, enjoying success in all forms of the game, most notably in the County Championship by taking his maiden five-wicket haul and scoring his first hundred.

But he has been sidelined since the second day of the current campaign when he broke his left hand in a fielding accident during the drawn four-day match against Kent at Headingley.

Pyrah has been able to maintain his fitness as well as spend time with his recently born twin girls and work at building up a sports management and promotions company he has set up under Andrew Gale's and Chris Taylor's All Rounder umbrella.

He has already been back on the park for club side Ossett in the Central Yorkshire League at the weekend, batting and bowling.

And some second-team cricket against Durham, starting today at York, could put him in the frame to play in Sunday's Clydesdale Bank 40 match against the Unicorns at Scarborough.

Yorkshire's medical team put an original eight-week time frame on Pyrah's recovery, which means he is a week ahead of schedule.

"Richie has been training and played a club game," confirmed White Rose first-team coach Jason Gillespie.

"He's going to play in the seconds this week. We haven't considered him for selection yet because we want to make sure he gets some time out in the middle and gets some cricket.

"This week he's got some second-team cricket, and he gets a chance to get some time at the bowling crease. We want to give him every chance to be successful.

"We're really keen to get him some cricket in the second team first as much for him to know in the back of his mind that he can get through games of cricket."

Although Pyrah's place in Yorkshire's one-day and Twenty20 sides looks assured upon his return, he may have to work a bit harder to force his way back into their ChampionshipXI.

Anthony McGrath has slotted in well down the order, performing with both bat and ball in recent weeks, while Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc will debut against Northamptonshire at Headingley next week.