Gillespie content with Yorkshire achieving their promotion goal

Yorkshire had not long beaten Essex by 239 runs and the players came down the pavilion steps to pose for a photograph on the sun-kissed outfield.

They were wearing the broadest of smiles and clutching cans of lager.

Some of that lager possibly slipped down their throats; most of it was poured over each other’s heads as they toasted promotion back to the First Division.

It was a remarkable scene – coming, as it did, at precisely the same time that Derbyshire pipped Yorkshire to the Second Division title.

Derbyshire’s six-wicket victory against Hampshire at Derby meant that although Yorkshire and Derbyshire finished level on points, Yorkshire were placed second by virtue of having won fewer games during the course of the season.

Promotion, however, was the only thing that mattered – as evidenced by the playful scenes among the visiting team.

If they had been unable to properly celebrate promotion the day before, when it had been confirmed by the defeat of nearest rivals Kent to Glamorgan at Cardiff, they more than made up for it yesterday afternoon and, no doubt, into the wee small hours.

No one would begrudge them a spot of carousing.

Celebrations have been few and far between in Yorkshire cricket in recent years and this was an achievement to be cherished, savoured.

Granted, the title would have been nice and the cherry on the cake, but the most important thing was the big juicy bun.

As Yorkshire’s first-team coach Jason Gillespie put it, the club had achieved what they set out to achieve.

“Our goal was to make Division One and we did that,” said Gillespie.

“The facts are that we didn’t lose a Championship game all season, we lost more time to weather than any other team in the country, and it’s a real testament to this group of players that we’ve gone up a division even when, at times, the odds have been stacked against us.

“We gained promotion on the back of three straight wins and that shows the spirit and determination in the side.

“The weather held us back for much of the year but, when we got good weather right at the last, we showed what we’re capable of.”

No county suffered more than Yorkshire with the weather this summer, with roughly 24 days out of a possible 63 claimed by the elements.

That included 13 completely blank days – days when Gillespie must have feared promotion was slipping away.

Under normal circumstances, when you have narrowly missed out on winning a title, you would dwell on all the little things that stack up during the course of a season; for example, the missed batting points when Yorkshire scored 246 against Essex at Headingley, 247 against Kent at Canterbury, 249 against Northamptonshire at Northampton and, as recently as last week, 344 against Glamorgan at Headingley.

On this occasion, however, Yorkshire will simply reflect on a job well done, a job memorably completed and celebrated here.

The final day had begun with Essex facing an unlikely battle for survival.

The home team were 28-2 chasing a notional 388 for victory and soon lost nightwatchman Tom Craddock, caught at point by Phil Jaques off Steve Patterson.

Only 31 runs arrived during the first hour but Essex’s resistance was effectively broken when they lost two wickets in quick succession to slip to 75-5.

First, Gary Ballance pulled off a breathtaking one-handed catch at leg-slip, diving full length to his right to dismiss Mark Pettini off Azeem Rafiq.

Two balls later, Ryan ten Doeschate made a present of his wicket, pulling Moin Ashraf to Andrew Gale, who claimed a simple catch running round from mid-on. Only Owais Shah was not for shifting, the former England man progressing to a 99-ball half-century with a minimum of fuss.

However, all around him Rome continued to burn, James Foster the next to go when he turned Rafiq into the hands of short-leg in the second over after lunch.

Rafiq, for the most part, had control of the batsmen, although Adam Wheater sent one ball from the off-spinner for six over long-on which cracked a middle-aged woman a painful blow on top of the head.

While the woman went off to seek attention in the medical centre, apparently shaken but not seriously hurt, Rafiq gained revenge on Wheater by having him caught behind off a dreadful reverse sweep – a shot so appalling that it might have attracted censure in Twenty20.

Rafiq captured his fifth wicket when Graham Napier also clipped to short-leg to finish with a career-best 5-50. It was some game for the precocious 21-year-old, who took 3-65 in the first innings and contributed scores of 53 and 75 not out.

Appropriately, given that he has been Yorkshire’s best bowler this summer, it was left to Steve Patterson to apply the coup de grace.

That he did by having Reece 
Topley caught at slip and by bowling Tymal Mills first ball to finish with 4-34, which gave him 48 wickets for the Championship season – a notable achievement given the adverse weather.

[email protected]