Yorkshire are considering resting Ryan Sidebottom from all limited overs cricket this summer in order to keep him fresh for their LV= County Championship title defence.

Coach Jason Gillespie has frequently described the former England left-arm swing bowler as the county’s Rolls Royce, and at 37-years-old, he has plenty of miles on the clock.

Ideally, Sidebottom wants to continue his exceptional career for another three seasons, taking him to 20 years as a professional.

But that would seem an unlikely prospect if he was to play in all three forms of the game - the Championship, Twenty20 and one-day cricket.

He is closing in on 700 wickets in first-class cricket and 1,000 in all forms of the game, both of which are achievable in 2015.

It has not definitely been decided that Sidebottom will miss all limited overs cricket during the forthcoming summer, but Gillespie has plenty of options in the seam bowling department to cover if that is what he decides to do.

“It would be unlikely that you will see him in coloured clothing,” admitted Gillespie.

“What we are trying to focus on is getting as much cricket as we can out of Siddy. If that means he doesn’t play much limited overs cricket, so be it.

“We’re not totally ruling it out that he’ll play one-day cricket, but the chances are pretty strong that he’ll just play the long format of the game.

“We feel we’ve got enough options elsewhere, and at the same time we need to look after our players.

“Siddy’s 37 now. He has been a wonderful servant in county cricket and for England, and we want the best out of him. How to get the best out of him is by leaving him to play, predominantly, the longer form of the game.

“There are blocks where we can give him time off and rest.

“At times, he may be a candidate to go and play some three-day second XI cricket where you can play 12. He could go and bowl a few overs to keep ticking over, basically have a centre net. That’s an option we will explore.”

Sidebottom took eleven wickets in eight NayWest T20 Blast matches last season, but his last List A appearance came in a 40-over match against the Unicorns in May 2013.