Chris Waters: Gale can build successful dynasty as White Rose pride is restored

They had not won the Championship since 2001.

They had won only two Championships since 1967.

Such statistics were unworthy of a club of Yorkshire’s stature; such statistics have been banished to the pages of history.

At Trent Bridge last Friday, a day imprinted on the memories of all those present to see the Championship won, Yorkshire mathematically confirmed what had been manifestly obvious almost from day one.

That they are the best team in the country.

That they play a ruthless brand of four-day cricket.

That they are a side fit to follow in the footsteps of their great Yorkshire forefathers.

That Yorkshire cricket need no longer feed off its illustrious past.

For Andrew Gale and his players have created their own history, created it and gift-wrapped it for their loyal supporters.

They are champions of England because they deserve to be champions.

They have put Yorkshire cricket back on the map.

For too long, Yorkshire cricket had been an increasingly insignificant pin-dot on that map - the cricketing equivalent of a city of declining population and prestige.

Long ago, Yorkshire cricket was the largest ‘city’ on the landscape, a stronghold of success to which thousands flocked to pay homage to the heroes of yesteryear: Holmes and Sutcliffe, Verity and Bowes; Trueman, Close, Illingworth, Boycott – names that trip off the tongue and will for evermore.

Such men helped to make Yorkshire cricket what it is, which is important, and also what it used to be, and could now be again, which is great.

Yorkshire did not, in the modern parlance, “kick on” when they last won the title in 2001 – more kicked the bucket, in fact, until Gale and the class of 2014 resurrected them as a force to be reckoned with.

Now they have a chance to build a dynasty of success not seen since the days of Trueman, Close, Illingworth and Boycott in the far-off Silver Sixties, days when Yorkshire boasted a truly great side over a consistent length of time.

The present side may, or may not, approach those same stellar heights, when Yorkshire swept all before them to win seven titles in the 10 seasons from 1959; that would be too much to expect of any side, and it must be remembered that the likes of Trueman, Close, Illingworth and Boycott were one-offs, the greatest of the great.

But the present team are good enough to be winning/challenging for the title every year for the foreseeable future, blessed as they are with their own great players – the vast majority of them young and home-grown, another large feather in the White Rose cap – and a super coaching staff led by Martyn Moxon and Jason Gillespie, with Colin Graves and Mark Arthur forming the rock-solid administrative base around them.

Exactly what Yorkshire could achieve in the next few years remains to be seen – and much will depend on England call-ups, of which there could be many – but, for now, the most important thing is that they have put a smile back on the faces of their supporters and, crucially, made Yorkshire cricket relevant once more.

For what is cricket without Yorkshire?

Yorkshire is cricket – or at least it is to the people of Yorkshire.

This is God’s own county, a God that created cricket, a God that created Yorkshire cricket, with all its serpents in the garden, its many imperfections, but also its wondrous, awe-inspiring beauty and capacity to inspire.

The old adage that “a strong Yorkshire is a strong England” really means that a strong Yorkshire is essential to the health of English cricket in general.

For Yorkshire, after all, is the largest of England’s counties geographically.

There are more cricket clubs in Yorkshire than anywhere else.

The love for cricket in these heartlands – if not always reflected in membership figures at Headingley, which in turn reflect a changing society and sporting world in general – is glowingly constant, like an everlasting flame.

Writing as one born and raised outside the Broad Acres, it is more noticeable, perhaps, than it is to those born inside a county where children probably learn Geoffrey Boycott’s first-class batting average off by heart before they learn their multiplication tables.

There is a passion for cricket in Yorkshire that exists nowhere else, a passion embedded in its DNA, a passion even reflected in the amount of coverage given to the game in The Yorkshire Post, coverage which comfortably eclipses in volume that of any other provincial newspaper – and most national ones, too.

Yorkshire cricket is timeless – and yet it is also changing.

Thirty years ago, when Boycott, in particular, polarised opinion, it was a hotbed of vituperative squabbling that almost tore it apart and made it a laughing stock both inside and outside its self-important confines.

It is no assembly of angels now, and yet it is appreciably different – increasingly so – and more inclusive than it was in the past.

There is now the real sense of a family club – Arthur, the chief executive, deserves much credit for that having gone out of his way to engage with the local community since his appointment in May last year – and an air of togetherness and of people working with each other, rather than against each other.

The media/public relations arm has also improved significantly.

Danny Reuben, the club’s head of media and marketing, has personally seen to that and driven an open-door policy that is winning the club many friends while at the same time keeping members and supporters fully informed.

At Yorkshire, no requests for interviews are reasonably denied unless they are logistically impossible, with the club conscious of their responsibility to promote the game.

Yorkshire no longer take their supporters – or even their entitlement to print space – for granted; there is a refreshing humility about them in general, a humility that is even more impressive now that it comes from champions.

Most importantly, however, thanks to the unforgettable events of last Friday in Nottingham, Yorkshire cricket is finally back where it belongs – or at least where every Yorkshireman and woman knows that it belongs.

Back at the very summit of English cricket; back in its rightful place in the pantheon.

For Gale and his team did not just bring the title back from Trent Bridge.

They brought back the pride.