Jaques and McGrath make sure promotion remains within sight

Less than four months after Yorkshire chased down 400 at Bristol following a contrived finish, the joint-second highest run-chase in their history, they conjured up another manufactured win at North Marine Road.

The target this time was not quite so daunting: 314 from a minimum of 84 overs, a run-rate of 3.74 an over.

But it still took some getting, particularly given the pressured stakes, with Yorkshire knowing they could ill-afford to concede further ground in the promotion race.

A tense two-wicket victory, achieved with just 16 balls to spare after Phil Jaques scored 79 and Anthony McGrath 76 not out, lifted Yorkshire back into the second and final promotion position, four points clear of third-placed Kent.

With Hampshire lying just two points further adrift in fourth, and with both Hampshire and Kent still having to play Derbyshire, who top the table by 19 points, the season is set for a nail-biting finale.

Had Yorkshire not won yesterday, they would have been nine points adrift of second place with two games left, which might have left them too much to do.

They complete their Championship campaign against Glamorgan at Headingley Carnegie, starting on Tuesday, followed by a match against Essex at Chelmsford, beginning on September 11.

Andrew Gale, the Yorkshire captain, has never been the sort of leader to die wondering, just as Jason Gillespie has never been the type of coach prone to championing the merits of a cautious strategy.

Both had been keen to set up this match and, following discussions with their Gloucestershire counterparts, a target was agreed to both teams’ credit.

“We had a chat with Gloucestershire after the washout on day three and I asked them to come up with some figures,” said Gale.

“They said 320, I said 300, so we more or less met in the middle.

“350 was probably the maximum I would have agreed to because the wicket wasn’t as flat as it usually is at Scarborough and there was still plenty in it for the bowlers.

“With Kent beating Leicestershire, this was a big result for us, and with eight days’ Championship cricket left there’s still everything to play for.”

Yorkshire’s victory was a genuine team effort that could be traced back to the first morning when Steve Patterson and Moin Ashraf reduced the visitors to 9-4.

Gloucestershire recovered to 215 before Yorkshire reached 61-2 at stumps on day one, which remained their total through two washed-out days before they declared yesterday before start of play.

There were one or two grumblings among the Scarborough cognoscenti when Yorkshire proceeded to throw up ‘pies’ so Gloucestershire could leave the pre-arranged target, but Gale had his eyes on the greater good.

The captain opened the bowling with Adam Lyth – hardly Fred Trueman and Tony Nicholson, it must be said – and served up slow filth which Gloucestershire openers Benny Howell and Rob Nicol proceeded to swat to the farthest corners of North Marine Road, endangering the town’s seagull population as they did so.

It was just like it had been at Bristol in May, when Gale and Lyth had also sacrificed their bowling averages for the needs of the team, and it ensured the scoreboard operators earned their corn.

Forty-four years earlier to the day, Garry Sobers had struck six sixes in an over off Malcolm Nash, playing for Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan at Swansea, and you half wondered whether Howell and/or Nicol would emulate the feat.

As it was, the most taken from one over was the 24 creamed off Lyth’s final over, the tenth of the innings.

At that point, Gloucestershire declared on 159-0, Howell having thrashed a career-best 83 from 34 balls with 14 fours and three sixes and Nicol 75 from 26 balls with 13 fours and three sixes.

Yorkshire’s run-chase began in circumspect fashion, Joe Root and Lyth taking 15 off the first eight overs before Root broke the shackles by steering Will Gidman to the third-man boundary.

Slowly but surely the pair cut loose, Lyth, in particular, catching the eye with some of the sweetest cover drives you could wish to see.

A common criticism of Lyth is that he plays well to reach 30 or 40 before inexplicably losing his wicket.

The left-hander cut a frustrated figure when he slapped Anthony Ireland to mid-on yesterday after reaching 40 from 71 balls. Root was also the architect of his own demise when he pulled Liam Norwell to deep mid-wicket for 43.

Gale was held at slip off the off-spinner Jack Taylor, who had Gary Ballance caught at cover from the fourth ball after tea.

When Jaques hit James Fuller to point after striking 10 boundaries in a fine half-century, followed by the wickets of Andy Hodd and Adil Rashid, lbw and caught behind respectively off Gidman, Yorkshire were 267-7 and it was anyone’s game.

But McGrath used all his experience to steady nerves, adding 45 for the eighth wicket in seven overs with Azeem Rafiq, who was pouched at point two runs short of the winning line.