Yorkshire and Derbyshire in thrilling battle for County Championship division two title (From York Press)

Yorkshire and Derbyshire in thrilling battle for County Championship division two title

12:42pm Friday 14th September 2012 in Sport By Chris Parrott

YORKSHIRE are closing in on a victory against Essex in the LV= County Championship.

However, the Tykes look like they could be pipped to the division two title by Derbyshire on what’s turning out to be a thrilling final day of the season.

This is after the leaders took lunch on 45-2 in pursuit of a victory target of 196 against Hampshire.

If they’re successful in their run chase then Yorkshire will finish second in the table having secured promotion yesterday.

However, if Hampshire can pull off an extraordinary victory then the Tykes will lift the trophy if they avoid defeat in Chelmsford.

That looked very likely at lunch with Essex on 104-5 in their second-innings as they try to chase down 388 for victory.

Yorkshire took three wickets during the morning session, with Moin Ashraf, Steven Patterson and Azeem Rafiq the successful bowlers.

At the interval, Owais Shah was unbeaten on 51, with James Foster on nine.