MARTYN Moxon has revealed the last few weeks have been his most difficult as Yorkshire’s director of professional cricket.

The White Rose county have slipped down the championship table, and are in a relegation battle, while they also failed to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Twenty20 Cup.

A season that has also seen the county fail to qualify for the knockout stages of the Friends Provident Trophy sank to a new low last Friday when Somerset chased down 476 on the final day to win at Taunton.

“I had some challenging times when I was at Durham, but, certainly, since I have been back at Yorkshire this has been the most difficult period,”

said the former England opener.

Moxon, who faces his old county Durham at Headingley today, has done a good job since returning to his home county in the winter of 2007, steadying a sinking ship after a disastrous winter off the field in his first season.

He then led the White Rose to the semi-final of the Friends Provident Trophy last year, clinching promotion to the NatWest Pro40 League division one just a few months later.

But things have hit the buffers this term. On top of the one-day failings, Yorkshire have not won a four-day game all season. It is a 17- match run in total, dating back to June of last year.

Moxon, like captain Anthony McGrath, blames the dip in form on a lack of consistency.

“To win three days of a Championship match is just not enough at this level,” he said.

“For two and a half years while I have been back we have created plenty of chances to win matches, but have just not been able to follow them through.

“The message to the players is that they have got to be more consistent.”

Moxon had mixed feelings leaving Taunton last week.

He admitted that he was “delighted”

with his young side’s performance for three days.

“It was certainly a difficult fourth day for them, but they (the youngsters) will be better for that experience in the long term,” he continued.

“The team is going to be a little different to the one that played last week because we have got the likes of Bresnan, Rashid, Rana and Kruis back.

“Durham will be a strong test for us and it would be a big confidence booster if we can get a result against them.

“But I am not sure we are lacking confidence.

“We outplayed Somerset for three days on their home ground, but we just couldn’t quite finish it off in the end.’’