In the following season, Yardley improved considerably, becoming a dominant force in University Cricket according to "Wisden". His maiden first-class century came in a narrow Cambridge victory over the Army, and he scored a second against Surrey, remaining not out for 116 in a total of 359. Bowling much more regularly, his maiden wickets in first-class cricket came in a performance of four wickets for 45 against Yorkshire, including the wicket of Len Hutton. Yardley topped the Cambridge batting averages and played an effective innings of 90 in the University Match. This display impressed Stanley Jackson, an influential former Yorkshire amateur cricketer, and he urged the Yorkshire selectors to include Yardley in the first team. Yardley was still appearing in the county second team at this stage, but at the end of August, he made his debut for the Yorkshire first eleven, appearing in the County Championship match against Derbyshire. He scored 12 in his only innings and took a wicket. He played in a further seven matches for Yorkshire, scoring 309 runs in ten innings with a highest score of 89 against Hampshire, with further fifties against Surrey and Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). In all first-class cricket that season, Yardley scored 1,017 runs at an average of 37.66 and took 12 wickets at an average of 26.08.