SO THE Jason Gillespie era ended in disappointment as two County Championship titles failed to become three in a row, with the White Rose outfit losing a thriller against Middlesex at Lord's on Friday.

Unbeaten Middlesex, the least likely winners of the title behind Yorkshire and Somerset at the start of the season's final day, snuck up on the rails to comfortably defend a 240 target in 40 overs.

They were worthy champions, with a Toby Roland-Jones hat-trick to win it providing an incredible finale.

By their own admission, Yorkshire failed to find top gear for long enough this season as they won only five matches, losing three.

There were glimpses of the dominance which was evident throughout the whole of 2015, hammering Surrey and Durham at Headingley at either end of the campaign.

Yorkshire's top-order batting, despite 1,000-run seasons for Alex Lees and Adam Lyth, is something the club's new coach must try to address.

They often had to fight back from positions of weakness in matches, the prime examples being against Nottinghamshire at Scarborough – when they were 51-6 in their first innings before winning by 305 runs – and at Middlesex last week, when they were 53-4 having to get 350 to pick up a fourth batting point to keep the title race alive.

Too often the middle and lower order were forced into a rescue operation. Against Middlesex, it was led by their resident rescue agent Tim Bresnan, whose magnificent 142 not out was just one of a series of crucial middle-order contributions. In fact, it was probably Yorkshire's best innings of the season.

It is hard to criticise a side who have won two of the last three Championship titles but their decision not to attempt a late run chase against Lancashire at Emirates Old Trafford last month could have been costly.

Chasing 367 on day four, they were 148-0 at tea needing 219 more runs from 30 overs. A task likely to fail? Probably. One they should have had a crack at with ten wickets in hand? Definitely. They ended up shaking hands on a ten-point draw at 188-0.

Yorkshire's limited-overs campaign proved to be a real roller-coaster ride which started and ended badly, though ultimately showed signs of promise.

They only won one out of their first seven NatWest T20 Blast matches before surging through to only the club's second Finals Day appearance, ultimately losing their semi-final to Durham.

The Vikings also lost at the same stage of the Royal London Cup, beaten by Surrey at Headingley.

Disappointingly, they lost all three of their 50-over matches at Headingley, including an opening-day hammering to Worcestershire when their batting was particularly limp on the way to 170 all out.

It actually proved to be a watershed moment for their whole white-ball summer, with them determined to attack, attack, attack from then on.

Lyth led the way with scintillating 50-over centuries on successive days in mid-June against Northamptonshire and Lancashire.

They scored 200-plus in successive T20 home games against Durham and Northants in late July, with the 223-6 against Durham proving to be a club record.

A number of Yorkshire's players, including Azeem Rafiq, also pointed to the calming influence of New Zealand captain Kane Williamson on the squad.

But Rafiq should take a great deal of credit himself because he ended up with 15 Blast wickets after nearly two years away from the pro game.

In truth, Yorkshire's overseas signings complicated things somewhat this season, not through any fault of the players in question.

Williamson needed to be rested during his short spell to avoid burnout and Travis Head had to leave early to join Australia's squad just after a magnificent 175 in an RL50 win at Leicestershire, the club's second-highest personal score.

His replacement, Jake Lehmann, also impressed by averaging over 50 in five Championship matches and a century in the costly home defeat to Somerset. But he was also called away, this time by South Australia before last week's finale.

Yorkshire continued to be hit by England unavailability, most notably last week when Jonny Bairstow was ordered to rest and Adil Rashid asked to be rested.

All of this means that it would be no surprise to see Yorkshire sign a domestic batsman to cover for such issues.

But the biggest recruitment drive of the winter will be the search for a new coach to replace Gillespie, who has taken on legendary status at Headingley. Thanks for the memories, Diz.