Yorkshire were unable to finish their summer with victory as Nottinghamshire completed a chase of 174 to win by five wickets shortly after lunch on day four at Trent Bridge and maintain their hopes of qualifying for next week’s Bob Willis Trophy final.
The White Rose’s LV= Insurance County Championship campaign ends with six wins from their 14 matches across both the initial conference stage and the final Division One phase, added to three defeats.
Bens Duckett and Slater combined to advance Notts from 42-1 overnight, completing a partnership of 98 for the second wicket before the former fell to Jordan Thompson.
Duckett finished with 54 off 87 balls, while fellow left-hander Slater was unbeaten on 79 off 132 as the game was ended 25 minutes into the afternoon.
Yorkshire’s stand-in captain Ben Coad finished with 3-58 from 17 overs.
Slater was dropped on 19 by Harry Duke off Matthew Fisher in the early stages of the day as the wicketkeeper dived in front of Tom Kohler-Cadmore at first slip.
Unfortunately, if Yorkshire were going to claim victory in easing batting conditions, they were chances which needed to be taken.
For the first time in the match, play took place underneath a largely overcast Nottingham sky, though the sun returned just before lunch.
This was Notts’ first home Championship win over Yorkshire since 2008, when South African Jacques Rudolph was captaining the visitors.
Notts must now wait for the result from Edgbaston to know whether they will qualify for the Bob Willis against Lancashire, starting next Tuesday at Lord’s.
For them to qualify, title-chasing Warwickshire must fail to beat Somerset, who are chasing 273.
By the time Duckett reached his fifty off 80 balls, Notts were 104-1 in the 28th over of the innings, needing only 70 more to win.
But Thompson forced him to play on at the end of that over, leaving the score at 107-2 and breaking a near century stand.
Slater reached his fifty off 83 balls shortly afterwards.
Dom Bess removed Joe Clarke as he attempted to go over the top and skewed a high catch to Tom Kohler-Cadmore at mid-off.
And when Coad bowled his opposing skipper Steven Mullaney for nine, Notts were 143-4 in the 37th.
Notts added six more runs before lunch and began the afternoon needing only 25.
Coad claimed his third wicket when Tom Moores whipped him to mid-wicket, where Will Fraine took a sharp catch going away to his left – 163-5 in the 45th will 11 more required for the hosts.
But Liam Patterson-White hit the winning runs off Bess to leave Notts with 21 points to Yorkshire’s three.
