Bresnan knocking on the door

Tim Bresnan already has 17 championship wickets this season © Getty Images

With all the hype surrounding the shortened form of the game at the moment, it is refreshing to hear Yorkshire all-rounder Tim Bresnan championing the championship.

The Indian Premier League is nearing a climax and the domestic

Twenty20 Cup starts in just over two weeks, but it is the four-day game for which Bresnan has expressed his personal desire.

“I definitely enjoy the championship more,” he told ecb.co.uk. “I think you can just get stuck in a bit more.

“It’s quite strategic and you have got time to work a batsman over if you are bowling and you’ve got time to build an innings if you are batting, rather than just a crash-bang-wallop of a one-day game.

“Especially now with the powerplays, it is just making it harder and harder for the bowlers.

“Everyone has this argument, but I reckon it’s a batters’ game, always has been.”

However, Bresnan is not giving up on one-day cricket entirely, saying: “I’m enjoying both forms of the game at the minute. You tend to enjoy it if you are doing well.”

The Yorkshireman has a batting average of 71 in the LV County Championship, allied with 17 first-class wickets and 12 in the one-day game, making him the leading all-rounder in the country.

With the England one-day international squad being announced on Friday, Bresnan is hoping his recent showings in the PCA MVP will have put him firmly in the selectors' thoughts.

"I think they do take an interest in the MVP," he said. "A couple of our lads mention it. Deon Kruis is our internet boffin and he keeps us up to date.

"But I concentrate on the cricket and let the rest look after itself."

In the past fortnight, Bresnan has catapulted himself from 18th to second place in the PCA MVP after fine performances with both bat and ball in all competitions.

"I have just been getting better and better for the last few years," he said. "I've got a clear mindset now of what I want to achieve.

"I'm not just rocking up for a day's cricket and seeing what happens.”

Bresnan has impressed with both bat and ball for Yorkshire in all formats of the game

This new-found maturity has enabled Bresnan to be more in tune with his own game and understand both the technical and mental aspects of playing professional cricket.

“As a cricketer in England, because your schedule is that tight, it is quite difficult to work on your game,” he said.

“If there is something that has gone wrong that previous day and you have just got something to tweak, the best time to do it is the next morning and just go back to basics.

“I have got something now where if I am doing something a bit wrong, it can only be one of three things, so I’ve got a little checklist I use.

“The lads keep an eye on me as well to see what I am doing technically and they will tell me, so I can just go back to my checklist and work it out.”

Bresnan was part of the England Performance Programme over the winter and admits it played a huge part in his development.

“I got so much out of the preparation side this year - any experience with the Lions is obviously good,” he said.

“You just get time to reflect on last season, to work on your game, and get time with quality coaches and put right what you want to put right.

“And then you get a tour at the end of it to actually implement that in a match situation.”

Bresnan's four one-day caps came in 2006, when he came in for some fearful treatment from the Sri Lanka batsmen, but he claims he has improved in all areas of his game since then.

"I have always been pigeon-holed as a bowling all-rounder, but now I think I am more of a genuine all-rounder, rather than one or the other," he said.

"It is good to have two strings to your bow, so you can contribute to every game in one way or another."

Bresnan is also relatively injury-free, which bodes well for the season ahead.

“I am not really that prone to injury,” he said. "A couple of the lads have gone down in the last week, but I seem to keep carrying on.

"Some people get them quite a lot and others just seem to miss out. But I seem to stay fit."