Yardley was unavailable to captain the MCC tour of South Africa in the winter of 1948–49, which was led by George Mann. Mann did well enough to retain the position for two Tests in the 1949 season; Freddie Brown captained the other two and Yardley did not play for England that year. In all first-class matches that season, he scored 1,612 runs at an average of 37.48 and took 22 wickets at an average of 33.86. He did not score a century in the County Championship, but passed three figures for Yorkshire against the New Zealand touring team and for the North against the South in a festival match. His only representative game outside of festival matches was for the Gentlemen against the Players at Lord's; Mann was appointed captain for the game. That season, Yorkshire shared the County Championship with Middlesex, the only time Yorkshire won the competition during Yardley's leadership.