Picture by John Heald. Jack White was exceptional this season en-route to his best figures in two years as a Yorkshire player.
Yorkshire ended the season with one of their most entertaining days of it as they ran through Nottinghamshire with the ball and then chased a 158-target – albeit nervously – to secure a three-day victory by one wicket over the outgoing champions at Trent Bridge. Jonny Bairstow even hit a six to win it on his 37th birthday.
The White Rose have ended the summer with three successive victories in the Rothesay County Championship, something they last achieved during their promotion-winning campaign back in 2024.
Jack White and Ben Coad were the headline acts today as Yorkshire backed up recent wins over Essex and Somerset at Headingley, though Bairstow ran them close with 38 not out off 62 balls to hold a faltering chase together. He won it by slapping Pakistani pacer Mohammad Ali over cover, his third six.
Nottinghamshire started the day on 55-3 in their second innings, leading by 127, and they were bowled out for just 85 three-quarters-of-an-hour before lunch.
White claimed four of those wickets to finish with 5-23 – his best figures in a Yorkshire shirt – and Coad the other three to finish with 4-27.
From late morning onwards, Yorkshire then chased with success. It was by no means stress-free as Will Luxton top-scored with 53. The White Rose slipped to 93-4 during the second half of the afternoon when he fell and later to 130-7 after tea. But they got over the line for a 19-point haul, just. And you should have heard the celebrations from the Yorkshire dressing room balcony. This meant a lot.
It was a fabulous way to bring the curtain down on a summer which has seen Yorkshire finish fifth in Division One with six wins. Warwickshire, meanwhile, confirmed themselves as champions today by beating Leicestershire at Edgbaston.
Picture by John Heald. Ben Coad celebrates one of this three morning wickets.
This, at Trent Bridge, was at times an attritional fixture, though always absorbing.
Three of those aforementioned six victories have come against teams who went into this week with ambitions of winning the title; Nottinghamshire for one and Somerset the other. Yorkshire, of course, completed the double over the Cidermen.
Notts’ headed into today with the advantage. Their lead of 127 with seven wickets left put them in a healthy state on a pitch which offered significant assistance from start to finish.
However, things turned in a flash thanks to some brilliance from Coad and White, added to three catches at third slip from Dom Bess.
White made the initial breakthrough by getting Jack Haynes caught behind for 27 four balls into the day – in the 22nd over – before he then had Ben Martindale caught by Bess in his next over, with Notts’ now 58-5.
In the 30th, he trapped New Zealander Mitchell Hay lbw before Coad got in on the act with two wickets in as many balls in the 33rd over.
He had Liam Patterson-White and Brett Hutton caught by Bess, the latter a sharp effort going to his left. That reduced the score to 72-8.
White then bowled Tom Giles before Coad did likewise to Lyndon James to wrap the innings up. James and Martindale with 15, added to Haynes with 27, were the only home batters to reach double figures.
Picture by John Heald. Dom Bess takes an excellent catch at third slip top help Ben Coad remove Brett Hutton. Bess took three catches at third slip today.
Ironically, White now has two five-wicket hauls to his name for Yorkshire, the other coming in the final week of last summer when the county beat Durham at Headingley.
Given conditions, Nottinghamshire were by no means out of this game, and so it proved.
Openers Luxton and Lyth took the score to 30-0 at lunch, the former working boundaries through the offside and leg off Pakistani pacer Mohammad Ali.
Luxton pulled the seam of Giles – an injury substitution for Olly Stone – for six over mid-wicket in the early stages of the afternoon to take Yorkshire beyond 50.
Unfortunately, with the score on 54 in the 13th over, Lyth edged Hutton behind for 21.
Sam Whiteman followed the same way, leaving Yorkshire at 70-2 in the 20th.
But Luxton continued on, reaching his fifty off 78 balls.
However, when James Wharton was trapped lbw by Patterson-White’s left-arm spin in the next over, the 30th, Yorkshire were 91-3.
Picture by John Heald. Tom Giles is bowled by Jack White.
That became 97-4 when Luxton himself fell, caught behind off a top-edged pull at Ali.
Yorkshire reached tea at 108-4, needing 50 more to win, with Matthew Revis and Jonny Bairstow at the crease. With plenty of assistance still obvious for the bowlers, Notts’ would have still fancied their chances.
Seven runs came off the first two balls of the evening from Ali, including a Bairstow cover driven boundary, though Revis was bowled by a grubber from the same man in the third over of the session – 116-5.
Bairstow, of course, hit a stunning 136 off 92 balls for England on this ground in 2022 when they chased a target of 299 to beat New Zealand. It was one of his finest hours in a Test Match shirt.
And George Hill referenced it last night that the skipper had spoken to his players at the start of the week about what a great ground this is for chasing on.
In that respect, Bairstow was the ideal man to have at the crease.
He whipped Ali for six over backward square-leg to move into the teens, only to lose Hill stumped against Patterson-White, leaving the score at 129-6.
Bess edged Ali behind before Coad did the same off Patterson-White with 19 to win – 139-8.
Picture by John Heald. Will Luxton pulls Tom Giles for six en-route to 53.
Bairstow pulled Ali for four three times in the over after the Coad wicket to move to 32 and take the target to five.
But there was still drama.
Ben Cliff was caught behind off Patterson-White – 153-9 – handing Hay his seventh dismissal behind the stumps, equalling a first-class record for Nottinghamshire.
Though, Yorkshire and Bairstow were not to be denied. With all the fielders on the edge trying to save the boundary as Bairstow took the strike with only White for company, he slapped a wide ball just over deep cover’s head.
Surely this was better than downing the Kiwis a few years ago, hey!
