Steve Patterson has admitted he didn’t think he would get the chance to take the winning wicket as never say die Yorkshire triumphed over Sussex in yet another an LV= Insurance County Championship thriller at Emerald Headingley.
Yorkshire won by an innings and 30 runs with only 32 balls remaining to put themselves on the coat tails of Group Three leaders Lancashire with two games remaining.
Sussex started day four 207 runs in arrears with all 10 wickets left at 38-0.
They then reached tea at 165-4 with 35 overs remaining and later 180-4, including impressive rearguard fifties for Ali Orr and Aaron Thomason.
However, Dom Bess and David Willey shared all five wickets in a remarkable collapse as Sussex slipped to 187-9 and later 215 all out.
Captain Patterson bowled his opposite number Ben Brown to clinch the victory, something he also did in the one-run win against Northamptonshire here earlier in the season.
In fact, when doing media duties at the end, coach Andrew Gale joked with the skipper that he is “the hoover” – always mopping things up!
Patterson said: “I honestly couldn’t see how we were going to win the game, but then it went to us having the best part of an hour to get one or two wickets.
“I’m still a bit shell-shocked as to how we managed to do it. But I’m delighted.
“The message from myself and Galey this morning was to keep it dry for long periods. Then we were always in the game. The fact they were always behind meant that two or three wickets quickly would turn the game on its head.
“The key for me is that qualification is now in our hands. That’s all we can ask for.
“We’re not reliant on other results. It’s about how we perform in those two matches (Northants and then Lancashire).”
An equally delighted Gale said: “It’s not a good watch when it keeps going down to the last half hour. But, going back to Old Trafford last week, we were gutted to lose with six overs left.
“We wanted a response this week and asked the lads to bottle that feeling up, remember how it felt, and do it to another opposition.
“We knew it was going to be tough, but the lads kept going all day on a flat pitch and got their rewards in the end.”
Yorkshire’s win was set up by a 177-run partnership for the third wicket between Dawid Malan and Gary Ballance (77) earlier in the match.
Malan went on to make a majestic 199 in Yorkshire’s first-innings 558.
Gale added: “I’ve slept a bit better this week, and we’ve all been waiting 18 months for that partnership to come together!
“We’ve been searching for that confidence and calmness.
“It just shows, when you get that big first-innings total you take one result out of the game.”
