Brilliant Jonny Bairstow helps Yorkshire CCC sign off County Championship season in style

On his 37th birthday, Bairstow’s skill and experience came through as he steered his side to a target of 158 with an unbeaten 38. He won the game with a six - of course he did - lofting the Pakistan pace bowler Mohammad Ali over cover towards the Fox Road Stand, the ball looping just beyond the reach of the boundary fielder, as Yorkshire finished with a third successive win.

Nottinghamshire had begun day three on 55‑3, a second innings lead of 127. Yorkshire blew them away in less than 18 overs, taking the last seven wickets for just 30 runs. Jack White led the charge with 5‑23, his best figures for the club, while the equally impressive Ben Coad returned 4‑27.

So swift and sensational was the collapse that Yorkshire did not even need to call on George Hill - left stranded on 48 wickets for the season - or fellow seamer Ben Cliff. Nottinghamshire’s 85 was their lowest total of the summer and contained just three double‑figure scores, Jack Haynes’s 27 the highest.

It was Haynes’s wicket, with the day’s fourth ball, that set the tone: White producing a beauty from the Stuart Broad End. Haynes did not appear to do too much wrong, apart from nick the ball, the catch giving Bairstow an early birthday present.

With the final ball of his next over, White had Ben Martindale edging to Dom Bess at third slip - the first of three catches Bess would take in that position before the innings was done. After White trapped Mitchell Hay leg‑before, the others arrived in successive deliveries from Coad: Liam Patterson‑White and Brett Hutton sent packing as Nottinghamshire wilted to 72‑8.

Having watched his side lose 5‑17 in the first hour, Lyndon James decided attack was the best form of defence. He hoisted White for six over mid‑wicket towards the Larwood and Voce Stand, a brief flicker of resistance that soon faded when Tom Giles was bowled to complete White’s five‑fer. White’s only other Yorkshire five‑wicket haul came in the final game of last season, against Durham at Headingley. He is the sort of bowler who routinely chips in with wickets rather than one whose figures tend to be dramatic - a metronome of a seamer, reliable and unshowy.

James had a life on 10 when he drove firmly to James Wharton at mid‑off, Coad the unlucky bowler, but the innings ended six runs later when James heaved across the line at Coad with fatal consequences.

Will Luxton got the chase off on the right foot with a couple of early boundaries off Ali, Yorkshire reaching 30‑0 at lunch from seven overs. After the break, Adam Lyth cover‑drove Giles to the rope, then Luxton clipped him sweetly through mid‑wicket - a stroke appreciated by home supporters as much as visiting ones.

When Luxton pulled Giles for six towards the Fox Road Stand, the opening partnership had shaved 50 off the requirement in under 12 overs, leaving Nottinghamshire desperately in need of wickets. They finally got one at 54, Lyth pushing forward to be caught behind off Hutton, who soon condemned Sam Whiteman to the same fate.

Luxton reached his half-century from 78 balls, but Yorkshire slipped to 91‑3 when Wharton went lbw pushing forward to Patterson‑White. That became 97‑4 when Luxton top‑edged a pull off Ali to the keeper, departing for 53 from 86 deliveries. There was still plenty in the pitch to keep the bowlers interested, and no chase is straightforward in such conditions. Yorkshire – 108‑4 at tea - lost a fifth wicket at 116 when Matty Revis was bowled by Ali from one that kept low.

As long as Bairstow remained, Yorkshire had control, the captain easing into his work with a handsome cover‑driven boundary off Ali. With Hill now alongside him, Bairstow then whipped Ali off his pads for six to the short Bridgford Road boundary, a stroke of the highest quality.

But then, as so often happens in such chases, the game changed again. Hill advanced to Patterson‑White - although not with any attacking intent, missed and was stumped. Moments later, Bess was caught behind off Ali for a second‑ball duck, completing a pair to leave Yorkshire 130‑7.

When Coad was caught behind off Patterson-White it was 139-8, but Bairstow struck Ali for three leg-side boundaries to ease Yorkshire nerves.

But Cliff was adjudged caught behind off Patterson-White to give Hay a seventh dismissal, equalling the Notts record for a wicketkeeper, as Yorkshire slipped to 153-9, five runs from home.

Finally, after a couple of unsuccessful swishes, Bairstow produced the killer blow.​​​​​​​​​​​