EVERYONE connected with Yorkshire seems to have taken great delight in the signing of David Willey. But it should send shudders round the rest of the county circuit.

Not content with having the best production line of players, which has underpinned a dominant four-day team, Yorkshire are prepared to raid other counties in pursuit of one-day glory as well.

Their previous signing from Northamptonshire, Jack Brooks, couldn't get into the team which beat Durham at Scarborough, nor could the highly-promising Matthew Fisher, nor seam-bowling all-rounder Will Rhodes.

Even when they are supplying three players to the England team, with two more in the squad, Yorkshire are overflowing with talent and will win this season's championship by an even wider margin than last year's.

The outlay on a player unproven in anything beyond Twenty20 is all the more surprising given their massive debts, no longer shored up by the millions of previous chairman Colin Graves.

Meanwhile the East Midlands counties are floundering. Northants had little option but to release Willey because of a financial plight which has forced them to consider selling their ground.

Leicestershire's team is now of Minor Counties standard and their attempts to kick backsides under the bullying leadership of Australian Mark Cosgrove have resulted in a points deduction for poor behaviour. They have scarcely competed in their last few games.

It can't be good for the county game to have one team flying so high while others fear for their existence. Or perhaps the ECB would welcome a couple of counties going to the wall to help them reduce the amount of four-day cricket and step up their efforts to bring in more T20 revenue.

How things have changed since those not-too-distant days when only those born within the biggest county's boundaries could play for Yorkshire.