Andrew Gale hails Yorkshire as promotion advances (From York Press)

Andrew Gale hails Yorkshire as promotion advances

11:37am Friday 7th September 2012 in Sport By Chris Parrott

Yorkshire’s hopes of an immediate return to division one of the LV=County Championship have been given a major boost.

This is after the county secured a thumping 22-point win over Glamorgan yesterday at Headingley.

The Tykes wrapped up the victory inside three days to beat their opponents by eight wickets.

The win is the first for the county at Headingley in the four-day game in 2012 and means they’ve achieved back to back wins in the Championship for the first time in more than two years.

More importantly, it means they’ll head into next week’s final match of the season at Essex knowing a victory will all but guarantee promotion.

A delighted captain Andrew Gale paid tribute to his team.

He said: “It was a great win.

“I think apart from the first session on day one we dominated the whole game. Our bowling was superb throughout the match. We created plenty of chances and won.

“Promotion is now in our own hands.”

A terrific bowling display was the major reason for the comfortable victory.

Having reduced Glamorgan to 27-2 overnight, two wickets for Steven Patterson and three for Moin Ashraf then helped Yorkshire dismiss the visitors for only 182 in their second innings.

Anthony McGrath, Ryan Sidebottom and Azeem Rafiq also picked up a wicket apiece, with Patterson’s final figures of 4-47 helping the paceman to 8-96 in the match.

His efforts helped Yorkshire to require only 111. Adam Lyth led the way with a fluent half-century to secure the win.

Phil Jaques also hit a breezy unbeaten 28, with Gary Ballance hitting the winning runs with a four to close on 19 not out.

Gale added: “I was really impressed with our attack.

“Patterson has been excellent all season long and he’s the first name on the team-sheet at the moment. The spell that Moin produced today was absolutely vital as well. It changed the course of the game.

“He’s that sort of bowler, a wicket-taking bowler. He probably didn’t perform at his best in the first innings but then he came back really well second time around.

“Adam Lyth was also a stand-out. He’s showing what a talent he is right now and it was great to see him play the way he did.

“Promotion is in our hands now and I’m really proud of the lads. They’ve done well to get us this far.”

This victory means Yorkshire have temporarily moved to within a point of the leaders Derbyshire.

However, they won’t know exactly what they need to do next week in order to win promotion until later today when the matches involving the Falcons and Kent and Hampshire and Essex have been completed.

If Hampshire and Kent lose, Yorkshire could need as few as four points from their trip to Chelmsford to go up.