Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale went a long way to setting up an impressive victory against champions Nottinghamshire with a breathtaking hundred at Headingley today.

The 27-year-old left-hander dominated a last wicket partnership of 82 with Oliver Hannon-Dalby – he scored 78 of them – to notch an unbeaten 145 off 205 balls and give his charges a first-innings lead of 193.

The hosts had slipped to 254-9 during the second morning of this LV= County Championship clash but were eventually all out for an impressive total of 336.

Gale hit 15 fours and two sixes, peppering the leg-side boundary with regularity against both pace and spin.

Whisper it quietly, but it was an innings to prick the ears of the England selectors.

He then saw in-form bowling duo Rich Pyrah and Ryan Sidebottom claim three wickets apiece to reduce the visitors to 175-6 from 60 overs of their second innings at close.

Sidebottom swung the new ball, opening the gate for Pyrah to return the impressive figures of 3-19 from 15 overs with the wickets of Mark Wagh, Alex Hales and Adam Voges.

The latter duo were both bowled after holding up Yorkshire’s bid for the win inside two days thanks to a fourth-wicket stand of 105 after their side had been 38-3. Hales scored 83, his second half-century of the match, and Aussie international Voges hit 42.

Four of the six wickets to go were bowled, with the others lbw and caught behind by Jonny Bairstow. Sidebottom finished with 3-44 from 14 overs.

Captain Chris Read and all-rounder Steven Mullaney will return to the crease tomorrow morning still 18 runs behind and with only four wickets left in the bag.