Yorkshire are determined to seal County Championship promotion in style.
Not content with clinching second place in Division Two, they want to reel in leaders Derbyshire during their final two matches, starting with Glamorgan at Headingley tomorrow.
Last week’s win over Gloucestershire at Scarborough has put them four points clear of closest rivals Kent and 19 points behind Derby, who have led the way for the majority of the campaign.
As more and more days were washed out by rain – Yorkshire have had 13 this summer – their chances of gaining promotion were slipping away.
But Anthony McGrath scored a memorable 76 not out to chase down 314 with only two wickets in hand during Friday’s enthralling fourth day.
Their fate is now in their own hands with fixtures against second-from-bottom Glamorgan at home and Essex at Chelmsford to come.
And with Derby facing Kent and then Hampshire, the title race is still on.
“Even though it’s been such a disastrous season weather wise, it’s looking like we’ll have a really exciting end, with the Champions League to look forward to as well,” said McGrath, who has enjoyed a profitable summer batting down the order.
“Our main aim is to make sure we go up, whatever the position. But if we can do it as champions, that would make it all the more sweeter. If the weather’s nice and we get eight full days, you can’t rule us out of catching Derby.”
McGrath has played 12 Championship matches this season, dropping down the order from number three in 11 of them. He has scored 523 runs from 14 innings at a notable average of 47.54, including two hundreds.
“That knock (against Gloucester) was probably more enjoyable than either of my hundreds because of the situation in the game,” he added. “It's a different role for me, but I've enjoyed it.”
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