YORKSHIRE are two games away from achieving something very special, writes Graham Hardcastle.

The White Rose county are joint second in the LV= Insurance County Championship’s Division One table alongside Hampshire, 10.5 points behind leaders Nottinghamshire.

The winners of Division One will be crowned county champions, a third title in eight years if Yorkshire were to prevail.

Notts have 49 points, Yorkshire and Hampshire 38.5, this week’s opponents Warwickshire 36, Lancashire 31.5 and Somerset 23.5.

Steve Patterson and co face Warwickshire at Emerald Headingley, starting on Sunday (10.30am), with coach Andrew Gale enthusing: “The lads are coming into their best form of the season, so the signs are good.”

Gale comments come on the back of the most recent innings victory over Somerset, inside two days at Scarborough last Sunday and Monday, when batsman Harry Brook and York-born seam bowling all-rounder Matthew Fisher were the standout performers with a century and nine wickets in the match respectively.

“We’ve got nothing to lose,” continued Gale, whose side started the four-game Division One campaign bottom having only carried 4.5 points through from the initial group stage.

“We were the underdogs, but there will be teams looking at us saying, ‘Yorkshire are in good form!’

“Let’s just go and give it our best shot.

"Anything can happen, can’t it? We’ve probably got to win two out of two.

“We have a good record at Headingley. Win that game and you never know. It will be a brilliant week.”

A dominant draw at Hampshire, which saw the hosts hold on nine wickets down in the second innings, was followed by the Somerset win.

“You can always find little bits of improvement, but we pretty much played 99 percent of our best game against Somerset,” said Gale.

“A two-day win against a really strong team was unbelievable.”

The remaining fixtures in Division One see leaders Notts face Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl in the forthcoming round, while the bottom two sides - Lancashire and Somerset - face off at Taunton.

In the final round, starting on September 21, Notts host Yorkshire at Trent Bridge, Warwickshire face Somerset at Edgbaston and Lancashire welcome Hampshire to Liverpool.

Warwickshire were the leaders at the start of the Division One campaign, but they have drawn with Lancashire and were beaten at home to Hampshire last week.

Yorkshire, meanwhile, have won six of 12 Championship games this season. Only Notts have matched that tally.

This is Gale’s fifth season in charge as coach, but has it been his favourite one to date?

“I think it is, yes,” he admitted.

"“It’s been so good to see people grasp their opportunities.

“We’ve played some good cricket and have won some nippers as well.

“The speed bump was that Blast quarter-final against Sussex.

“We’re desperate to go to a Finals Day!

“I drove back in the car with Rich Pyrah, two-and-a-half-hours from Durham, and we didn’t speak a word to each other.

"We were so flat and felt we’d missed the boat a bit.

“But I have really enjoyed this season.

"Two games left and a chance of winning the Championship, it’s fantastic.”